Kanda's Apprentice
by Takanami
Summary: The story of how the Innocence and Akuma came to be is a story that ties back to characters from a time thousands of years ago. A strange (almost bipolar) five year old girl appears in the wreckage of a town, having connections to these ancient beings from so long ago. Between her history and the rabbit that is her Innocence, they're planning on giving Kanda a whole lot of trouble.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: This story has no relation to the Bunny Incident. It was only inspired by it. This story will carry some of the same humor, but other than that, it's different. The child is _not_ Tsuki, _despite all the similarities you might see._

This takes place before they sent the teams out to look for the generals. Not sure how much before, but it's before that, and after Allen and Lavi came. 'Cause we just have to annoy Kanda as much as possible, you know... _Sekai's idea, not mine. Though I did encourage all the horrible things we're doing to him..._

Speaking of which, we don't own D. Gray-Man. We just like to annoy the characters. We DO, however, own the child and bunny. _Literally. He's sitting right next to me. The whole innocence/demonized thing...he does that too. Yeah, and _you_ thought this was all from our imaginations..._

* * *

><p>It was supposed to be a simple mission. <em>Supposed<em> to be. So, _of course_, the swarm of Akuma had shown up before they could get the Innocence.

The Finders were already gone. Kanda had kicked them outside of a mile's radius when the fighting had begun. He really didn't mind the whole death and destruction part, but the Finders were annoying and managed to constantly get in the way. Most of the Akuma were gone by now anyway.

No Innocence gathering mission was a "simple mission".

The remaining Akuma had gathered, preparing a final futile attack. And just as they were about to... they didn't. Their twisted bodies froze in place, as if listening to something only they could hear. Then, one by one, they quickly withdrew. However, Kanda was pretty sure they looked confused about it.

Kanda paused for a slight second and eradicated the few he could get, before they climbed higher and further out of reach. Better to have less of them wandering around. When the other Akuma he hadn't gotten had disappeared, he frowned after them. The three Finders who had been near the town when it had been destroyed were back. They began to search the town, combing through it methodically. An hour passed, and there was still no sign of the Innocence.

He scanned the town on his own. None of the townspeople had been present when the attack had hit. Some sort of festival in a nearby town had attracted their attention, and they were none the wiser yet about the attack or the state of their town. Walls had crumbled. Rooftops were missing. Houses were in ruins. Memories were lost.

One of the Finders walked up to him as he emerged from the remains of another destroyed house. "We're being called back. I mean us, the Finders. You're supposed to keep searching, though."

Kanda gave him a glare that said he didn't care. But why the hell was _he_, the _Exorcist_, the one looking through the town for the Innocence? Had they had a sudden decline for Akuma in need of destruction or something?

The Finder waited for another second, thinking he might respond, before turning around and walking away, glad to be getting away from the angry swordsman.

He glanced up at the house in front of him and frowned. Then he called after the Finder, "Hey. Have you been seeing a lot of stuffed animals around this town?" The Finder turned, startled both at the sudden outburst and his words, but shook his head.

Kanda scowled, looking away from the Finder and back to the house. In the window was a stuffed rabbit, leaning against the shattered wooden window frame. He'd also seen a rabbit by every door in every house he'd been in. And, if he thought about it... they were all by the doors that pointed in this direction. This house had a bunny in the _window_.

He entered the house.

* * *

><p>At first, there was nothing odder to this house than any of the previous ones. Then he noticed the stuffed rabbit, appearing again and again. Walls and ceilings had crumbled, and tables and chairs were knocked over. Pictures were smashed, and scratches raked the floors. And by every doorway, leading him on, was the rabbit.<p>

As he was about to enter another room, he frowned and paused. The rabbit was still sitting on the overturned chair by the door. So how did it get there, unless the chair had been already tipped over before the Akuma attack? Which was a possibility, but that many rabbits? Really? Unless...

He turned around, and went through the last door before the one he was currently at that he had gone through. Looking through the doorway, the rabbit was still sitting on the overturned chair. And the one that had been sitting on the coffee table near the door he was standing at now was... not there?

Kanda frowned. Well, that settled it. The Innocence was the rabbit. So he had to carry a stuffed _rabbit_ of all things back to HQ. Damn, why did he always wind up with the worst missions? Walking back to the rabbit, he picked it up, and turned to walk back out of the house again.

Pain shot through his hand, and he released the rabbit in surprise. It had bitten him, of all things! Turning back to it, the rabbit had changed slightly. No easy pink smile was stitched on its face. Now, it could have been snarling at him. On his hand, tiny puncture marks bled sluggishly between his thumb and index finger.

He rolled his eyes at the ceiling. Not only did he have to carry a stupid rabbit back to HQ, but it was a stuffed rabbit that _didn't want to go back_. Great, now he would have to explain the bite marks to the _other_ stupid rabbit (Lavi), and keep his dignity and pride intact while doing so.

Glancing back down at where he had dropped the rabbit, it was gone. He looked back up, and passed through the door, checking the room's contents. As he thought, the rabbit was lying against the doorjam to a different room. The next room was on the other side of the doorjam was completely trashed. The roof had collapsed, and so had the ceiling below it, all into the room. It was, to say the least, a mess.

Yet, when he thought about it, the rabbit had been leading him somewhere. And when he walked through to the room (that looked worse than the Black Order did whenever Komui's Komulins trashed the building), the stuffed animal was by none of the doors. Instead, even though he never saw it move or appear there, it was sprawled on one side of the pile in the center of the room, lying on its side, one paw outstretched as if to reach for something hidden there.

Kanda walked closer, and frowned again. What the hell did the stupid thing wan-

In the silence, he heard a sound. Kanda froze completely, not even breathing, and waiting for it to repeat. To his reward, he heard it again. The faint rasp of ragged breathing, distorted as if coming from under something.

Under something.

Kanda stepped forward, sheathing Mugen which had been in his hand in case of any lingering Akuma. Reaching out, he grabbed hold of a pile of rocks and shoved them away. Again, he never saw it disappear, but the rabbit was no longer atop the pile. He shoved away another handful of crumbling mortar, revealing the top of a table. The sound he was moving towards was emanating from beneath it.

He knelt and pushed away chunks of the roof and ceiling from underneath the table, the breathing growing closer the whole time. Finally, he gave another shove, and the plaster toppled over to show the cocoon the table had formed as shelter between itself and the floor for its occupant.

A girl, no older than eight and no younger than six, was lying on her side curled into the fetal position. She was directly under the table, the safest spot in the room to have been when the roof had collapsed, and ugly purpling bruises marred the visible skin. Brown hair fell in thin strips to her shoulders. Her breathing was uneven, although better now that she had more air to access with the collapsed section pushed away. She looked sick, as if she hadn't had anything to eat or drink recently, which she probably hadn't. The attack had been going on since a week ago, and there likely would've been nothing under the table.

Her arms were clasped tightly around herself, and clutched inside them was the bunny. This was definitely what the Innocence had wanted him to find. It was just surprising that it had been able to move itself so quickly and effectively, especially just to get help to this girl. So then, if it was going to take such desperate measures, this must have been its Accommodator.

Kanda reached under the table, already dreading making the haul back to Headquarters with a sick girl and her stuffed bunny, and wrapped an arm around both of them. Leaning back, he pulled them free from the rubble. The girl coughed for a few seconds, shuddering as she did. From her motions she didn't seem to be conscious. With all the dirt and dust caked over her, it wasn't surprising her lungs were having trouble.

Kanda sighed and adjusted his arms, lifting her into them. She wasn't heavy and plenty easy to hold on to in the tight ball she was in. As he stood, she relaxed against his chest

He turned and walked out of the house. It was raining. He almost went back inside to keep them both dry, and avoid tromping through the empty town with his new passengers, but stopped when he noticed the rain starting to clean off the dirt matted on her. Figuring that he didn't want to carry a dirty girl back to the Black Order, he continued walking. By the time they reached the outskirts, the rain had died down to a drizzle, and the girl was relatively clean.

With a glance at the sky, he decided not to stop for the time being. They were already on the move anyway, the clouds almost clear, that stupid stuffed rabbit with a self-satisfied smirk on its stitched mouth, and the sky was beginning to brighten as the sun rose. Making a quick decision, he passed the last of the houses and continued walking to the train station he'd arrived on.

The two of them (no way in hell was he counting that creepy stuffed rabbit as someone) were rooming in an inn. The innkeeper had given them an odd look when they had tromped in soaking wet, dripping all over the place, one finally beginning to look clean and the other looking ready to murder, and asked for a room. Either way, they were camped out there until they'd developed some relative dryness, and Kanda had gotten some sleep. He had begun to regret the idea to keep going several hours after finding themselves in the middle of nowhere with drizzle that hadn't completely done away.

He was woken when the static of his golem buzzed. The girl briefly stirred on the other bed as he sat up with a sleepy grunt to shut it up. "Kanda?" Komui asked from the other end of the line.

"What?" he responded irritably. True, it was the middle of the day, but he was still grumpy.

"Did you find the Innocence?"

"Of course. Why the hell did I have to be the one looking for it anyway?"

"The Finders were needed elsewhere, and Lavi and Allen were near. We sent them over to give you help, but apparently you weren't there. They're in the next town over. Where are you?" Komui asked, a shuffling of papers on the other end. He was probably trying to look busy before someone snapped at him to start working, which he was doing (for once) over the phone.

"Kaleton, and I don't need any help."

"I know, but once Lavi heard you were close by... well…it wasn't up to me. Anyway, just checking in!"

Kanda doubted it. He was up to something. "I swear, if you tell Lavi where I am, I will-"

"Oh, no such thing! Got to go, see you later!"

"If you even _think _about-"

_Click_.

Cutting off his end, he muttered a long string of profanities. Best get moving before the two idiots caught up to him. On the other hand, maybe he could dump the kid with them. Or they'd just follow him, which would neutralize the problem. The kid didn't speak anyway, which was more than he could say for the other two.

He stood up and looked around the room. Where the hell had the kid run off to? He turned and felt the back of his head brush something. His eye twitched, realizing what had happened, and reached one hand behind him. His hand brushed hair that wasn't his own. It was then that he noticed the small hands lightly gripping his shoulders. When had she gotten on him?

Muttering to himself again, he spent a full minute trying to get her off in every way possible without actually hurting her. She always managed to adjust her position just in time to keep a place on his back.

Someone hated him. Someone _really_ hated him.

"Get _off_," he snarled to no avail. Letting out a hiss of annoyance, he grabbed the only things he'd been carrying with him and strode out the door, slamming it behind him. By then, he was ready to revert to a religion so long as the deity in charge would make sure the baka Usagi and Moyashi did _not _see this. The innkeeper gave them another odd look as they left, but wisely refrained from commenting.

Every religion that had a devil/demon/evil-creature apparently had a devil/demon/evil-creature that hated and conspired against him.

"Um... Y... Yuu-chan?" a shocked voice asked behind him.

Without completely turning, Kanda turned his head over one shoulder. Of course. _Of. COURSE._ He glared at the other two Exorcists standing there, gaping at him like idiots, and half growled half snarled, "Comment, and you're both_ DEAD._"

He turned his head back around and started walking again, purposely picking up speed.

Behind him, he heard the stupid Usagi say something along the lines of, "That's it. I think I'm hallucinating. Allen, why are you in my hallucination? This is _my _hallucination. Maybe I won't get killed in my hallucination if I refer to Bookman as 'Panda'..."

When he was a good ten yards away from them, and mildly hopeful of escaping their chatter, they loudly scrambled to catch up.

"Um, Y-" Lavi began.

"Call me that one more time, _I dare you_," Kanda snapped.

"Right, uh...is there something you want to tell us?" Lavi asked meaningfully, glancing at the child.

"No," Kanda said shortly.

"What's with the kid?" Allen asked bluntly.

"Accommodator, rabbit's the Innocence, and she won't get _off_." Kanda repressed the urge to try to shrug the girl off again, but knew it would be a doomed attempt and saved himself the indignity.

"Erm, right," Lavi said. "What's her name?"

"I don't freaking know, and I don't freaking _care_."

"Y-Kanda!" Lavi scoffed, quickly changing his word choice at the death glare sent his way. "Be nice!" He turned his attention to the girl and dropped back a bit to speak more easily to her. "Sorry, he's always like that. I think he wakes up permanently on the wrong side of the bed every morning, but that's probably just me."

"Usagi, I'm right here," Kanda said irritably.

"I'm aware. Anyway, what's your name?" Lavi asked, probably grinning that wide stupid grin of his.

No response.

"Oh come on, we can't just make up names for you. Please tell us? Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Who knows, we might be able to get some sprinkles, too!" Lavi said excitedly. A short rumble said that Allen's stomach was hearing too much of the one-sided conversation. "Ah, sorry Allen."

"Just drop the food stom-subject," Allen corrected himself as his stomach rumbled again.

"Yeah..." Lavi sped up again, and walked backwards while keeping even with Kanda. A miracle with the long strides the latter was taking. "So, Yuu… What's her name?"

"I already said, I don't know," Kanda answered dismissively. Lavi gave him puppy dog eyes, which were promptly ignored. "Drop the subject."

There was muttering behind him that sounded like it was coming from Allen. "Okay, Tim? Would you mind recording this?"

"If that stupid golem of yours records this, that damn thing is going to be buried with the rest of your mangled corpses," Kanda snapped immediately.

"Can't do much slaughtering with the girl on your back, BaKanda," Allen replied easily. Kanda whipped around in response, and the two exchanged fiery glares.

"Moving on, no violence in range of the innocent..." Lavi said, attempting to dissuade the evil energies with his hands. The two ignored him for a few more moments before continuing on. "So how about this? I drop the subject... if you give me a name!" he asked in a sing-song voice. Kanda glared at him. However greatly he did not want to do a deal with the rabbit, he also wanted him to shut up. It was a tempting offer.

"If you don't say another word until we get back to HQ, then I will."

Lavi clapped his hands excitedly. He nodded up and down.

"Yeah, like that's ever going to happen," Allen said, the rolling of his eyes evident in his flat tone.

"Shh, Allen!" Lavi reprimanded. Kanda gave a glare to the excited redhead that said he was thinking the exact same thing. "Fine! I promisepromisepromise_promise_ that I won't speak again until we get back to the Black Order as long as you give me her name!"

"Fine. Baka."

The two stared at him blankly. "W-" Lavi began to say, before Allen stepped on his foot as a helpful reminder.

"Kanda. I don't know who taught you to give names, but _that_ is surely the worst. Honestly, think of something creative, not rude and insulting. For once in your life," he added. "You don't want a girl growing up and thinking her name is 'Idiot', do you?"

"I really don't give a damn."

"Kanda!"

"What? And didn't I say no talking?"

"You told _him_," Allen pointed at Lavi, "that he couldn't talk. I wasn't mentioned in the deal, and you didn't think of it, so you have no reason to complain. And don't 'what?' me. You know perfectly well what I'm irritated about."

"Fine. If you're so uptight about the whole thing, then _you_ name her, instead of sticking the job on someone who doesn't want it," Kanda shot back.

Allen looked at Lavi. "Well. He's got a point there." Lavi shrugged in response. "I don't know... um... Lavi, you think of something." Lavi gave another shrug, one that said, 'I don't know'. "Damn. Well... uh..."

"Exactly," Kanda said grumpily. "Now think about it, _in your head_."

Allen shook his head. "Touchy, touchy..." However, he succumbed to silence.

But it could only last for so long. "So, what're the bruises from?" Lavi and Allen were both giving him meaningful looks.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you two?" Kanda snarled angrily at the unspoken accusation. "Did you read about the mission I was on at _all_?"

Lavi shook his head truthfully.

"Akuma attacked an empty town. Completely trashed some of the houses. She got caught under a table that was under a ceiling and the roof." Kanda shook his head angrily. "Idiots."

"Ah, okay then." Allen paused for a minute. "How long was she under there for?"

Kanda shot him a glare. "Weren't you thinking up a name?"

"No. We're busy reveling in the sight we're looking at," Lavi said. He was grinning from ear to ear, obviously taking in the image of the girl clinging to the easily angered Exorcist.

Kanda took an angry step forward and Lavi scampered off to hide behind Allen. The white-haired Exorcist shrugged him off, diving out of the way as Kanda chased Lavi down the street while brandishing Mugen with the girl still keeping her arms around his shoulders.

* * *

><p>The swordsman returned to his path minutes later. Lavi had probably been chased off into the next country; which was actually a possibility, considering the border was so close.<p>

"So, how long was she under for?" Allen asked. One of Kanda's eyes slightly twitched. He was pretty sure he'd lost both of them. He couldn't be so lucky.

"No idea. Could've been the entire time, could've been a day."

Allen gave a sound of acknowledgement, and wisely decided to stop speaking since Kanda didn't seem to be in a good mood that day. But then, when was he ever in a good mood?

At some point, Lavi rejoined them, though he was badly sneaking around by hiding behind trashcans, people, walls and other things. He'd evidently crossed back over the border. Kanda decided to ignore him, but Allen raised an eyebrow at the bad hiding techniques that were obviously being exaggerated.

That was how they spent the rest of the day. Finally, the Black Order HQ came into view. Kanda grew more and more angry as they approached the building. Lavi caught up to them as they began to enter. "Erm, Yuu? You look ready to kill someone. Hopefully not me," Lavi added as Kanda gave him a glare.

"Of course he's angry," Allen sighed like it was obvious.

Lavi caught on. "Oh! Because he's about to walk through a building of people who know him with a girl hanging off his back? And we're going to be here, grinning like idiots?"

"Yup."

"And we're going to grin like idiots?"

"No."

"Yup."

Lavi and Allen raised an eyebrow at the answer Kanda had stated at the same time Allen had. He shot them an annoyed look and moved on.

"You know, maybe one of us would be willing to detach her..." Allen suggested. Kanda glanced at him, a bit surprised. Lavi did as well. Was Allen _seriously_ offering to help him? "But since you haven't asked, apparently you'd like her to stay there, so..." Allen shrugged, keeping his expression carefully neutral, yet obviously enjoying every second of the swordsman's dilemma. Kanda looked stricken, and obviously in some sort of mental pain.

"Fine. Take her off."

The question surprised the other two for an instant. They exchanged a glance, and Kanda stared at the two with folded arms, annoyed.

Allen nodded, slowly grinning. "Hm, maybe. Although, I might be better inclined to do so if you asked _politely_ and said _please_-"

Kanda stomped off, throwing over his shoulder, "Go screw yourself."

"Well, you tried." Lavi shrugged. "Did Tim...?"

"Every second of it."

"Oh this is going to be _great_. Make sure he records our entrance too, eh?"

"Absolutely."

* * *

><p>an: Yes, yes, we're just. That. Evil. You thought the one shot was evil of us? (if you read it.) Oh no. This is. Just imagine how much we cracked up while writing this, though. _Seriously. I had to listen to her giggle evilly. Yes, giggle. Creepy stuff, I'm telling you._

Also, we have discovered two things while doing _hours of_ research:

One: All D. Gray-Man characters are all MIDGETS _aka, three inches taller than me_. I mean honestly! I'm taller than some of the _guys_, and I am not that tall! Like, three of them cannot be counted as midgets, and that's it!

Two: The Millennium's full of hot air (literally). Otherwise, there is no way he is seven foot something, and 170 or something pounds. _And Tyki Mikk was my weight exactly, with three inches on me. Freaky._


	2. Chapter 2

a/n: _Well this took a disturbingly long amount of time to finish writing. Heh. Please don't throw anything at me. *ducks* So, here's another round of torture for Kanda. We take _way_ too much pleasure in doing horrible things to him… Not that it discourages us in any way, shape or form. ^^_

* * *

><p>What dignity? The one that had taken a flying dive bomb into a pit of sharks after giving itself a seppuku*? That dignity?<p>

At least no one had the courage to mention it to his face. No one had the courage to laugh outright, either. It was just raised eyebrows, suppressed smiles, hushed whispers, and plenty of sideways glances. None of them had death wishes, so they kept their lips closed. Wise people.

The girl must've fallen asleep at some point, but she somehow kept her tight grip on him. Even with her sleeping, he doubted he'd be able to shake her off. The position she was in closely resembled a koala's. Her hands were tightly clenched on his shoulders, and her bare feet managed to keep a position on his waist that supported her weight without wrapping her legs completely around him. They were too short for that. Her head was resting about two inches below his neck.

It took most of the walk through the entire Black Order, with Lavi and Allen following behind with loud snickers, before his saving grace found them.

"You three are already back?" Linali asked, pleasantly surprised. She smiled angelically at them.

Lavi completely lost it at this point, collapsing into an apoplectic laughing fit on the tiled floor and gasping to get air. Linali raised an eyebrow at him. Kanda gave the redhead a warning look that said he'd better shape up and shut up.

Allen grinned broadly, maintaining his composure. "Four. Kanda brought back a fourth person." He pointed at Kanda's back. Linali, who failed to understand why Allen was pointing at Kanda, still looked confused. Allen walked around the swordsman until he stood beside him. It was then that she noticed that he was pointing _behind _Kanda. She crossed the floor to join Allen and peered at the child on his back.

Instantly, she raised both eyebrows. "He let her stay there?" she asked in surprise.

"Baka wouldn't come off," Kanda grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's what he named her," Allen sighed. "We've been trying to change his mind, but he pushed the job to us and we can't think of anything else."

"Kanda, that's a horrible name," Linali reprimanded.

Allen threw his hands up. "That's what _I_ said! He's not listening!"

"She's not my problem," Kanda shot back.

Allen snorted. "She is until you can get her off your back, which you're apparently incapable of."

"She won't come off?" Linali asked. "None of you can get her off?" Allen gave a wry smile that said they hadn't exactly tried. She sighed at them. Lavi was trying to find composure but, as previously mentioned, he had already completely lost it.

"Stupid apprentice! Quit making such a fuss!" Bookman said, landing with a loud thump on Lavi's head. He turned to Linali. "Is my apprentice making loud noise over nothing again?"

"Define _'nothing'_..." She pointed to the girl. Bookman raised an eyebrow.

"Would someone just get her _off_ already?" Kanda snapped.

"Oh? He's asking for help now?" Bookman said, starting to smile.

"Shut up and take her off."

"If you say please, maybe we will."

Allen's evil grin grew even wider, and Lavi's already futile attempts to stop laughing were not helped. Kanda looked ready to murder, again. Bookman, master that he was, kept his emotions carefully masked.

Linali sighed at the people around her. "Jeez, you'd think we had five kids here instead of just one..." She stepped up and carefully pried the girl's small fingers from Kanda's shoulders. As the girl began to fall backwards and grab for Kanda's shoulders, Linali pulled her into a bridal style hold. The girl abruptly shifted into a new position, promptly falling back into a sound sleep.

Adjusting her grip, she managed to free a hand to pluck something off Kanda's head. The swordsman blinked in surprise, and his expression grew even more irritated as he saw the familiar bunny in her hand.

"Jeez, Kanda, did you really not notice?" Lavi said, finally standing.

"How the hell was I supposed to?" Kanda snapped.

"So, who is she?" Linali interrupted, seeing immediately where this was going.

"Yuu found her on his mission. She's an Accommodator. The bunny's her Innocence," Lavi said. "The girl I'm fine with, but the bunny's kind of creepy."

"What. Afraid of your own family?" Kanda asked. The redhead rolled his eyes.

"Wait a second. What do you mean by creepy?" Linali asked.

"It's always looking at you, and I think its expression changes. It's normally wearing that weird smirk, though," Allen said. Linali glanced down and, sure enough, it was looking straight at her. She put it into the girl's arms. Her hands reacted immediately and wrapped protectively around the rabbit.

"It moves," Kanda added. The others looked at him. At their puzzled expressions, he sighed and elaborated. "From place to place. I've never seen it actually _move_, but it appeared at each doorway until I found its Accommodator."

"I wonder if her Innocence can let her teleport or something like that," Lavi observed cheerfully. "Hey, Yuu! Wait!"

Kanda had already left them in his dust, walking briskly down the hall to Komui's office.

"Let's take Bunny-chan to Nii-san, then," Linali said, walking quickly after Kanda. Lavi and Allen exchanged a glance as they followed after Linali.

"Bunny-chan?" Lavi said thoughtfully, glancing at the girl. "Huh. Should've thought of that."

Linali gave a slight shrug, pausing as Lavi stepped in front of her to hold the door so she could get through with the newly-renamed Bunny-chan. Komui looked over from Kanda, who was standing irritably in front of Komui's desk with crossed arms.

"Ah, so this is our new Exorcist," Komui said. He stood up slightly, getting a better look at the girl. He gave a small sigh. "She's a little young, isn't she?"

"Yeah. Been sleeping the whole time," Allen said.

"She should probably be looked at by the Matron," Kanda interjected. "I don't know how long she was under the table, but she wasn't breathing well when I pulled her out."

Komui looked a bit surprised at his unexpected concern, but nodded. Reever, catching the high points of the conversation, walked over to Linali, taking Bunny-chan/Baka into his own arms and out of the room.

"What are the rest of you doing here?" Komui asked. After a brief pause, in which he didn't actually expect anyone to answer the question, he went on. "Never mind. Do we know what her Innocence is?"

"The rabbit," Kanda said.

Komui nodded, and seemed to be suppressing a smile. Kanda mentioned the other oddities, and proceded to slide Mugen from its sheath, slicing at where he knew Timcanpy was flying. The supervisor broke into a full grin, and the swordsman turned slightly, seeing that Mugen had missed by only a couple centimeters. Timcanpy responded by angrily whacking Kanda's head with his golden wings. He was using his projector to show off what he had recorded of Kanda carrying the girl.

"Well, I think we're finished here. I'll see if any of the generals are willing to take on another apprentice," Komui said. "I can guess who will probably be taking her, though. Definitely not Cross-"

"Hell no," Allen said irritably.

"-and I don't think Zokaro will either. That leaves Cloud or Tiedoll," Komui finished. "I'll talk to them both. In the mean time, you've all got food waiting for you."

* * *

><p>"Which one do you think'll take her?" Lavi asked curiously at the table.<p>

"I don't know. I think either one's an even bet," Allen responded. Linali nodded. "Kanda. Which one do you want her to go with?"

"Don't care."

"You should pay more attention to your fellow Exorcists, Yuu. They might save your life one day," Lavi said knowingly, obviously the next Yoda if he lived long enough.

Kanda threw the empty soba bowl at him. He stalked off, and left through the doorways.

"Not very friendly, are we?" Lavi murmured. He grinned slightly, bowing his head to knock the soba bowl from its tenuous perch on his head.

"When should we know who she's going to be going with?" Linali asked. "I think Cloud might be somewhere around here, but I don't know about Tiedoll."

"Probably around a week. Tiedoll's close enough to get here by that time, if he hurries and doesn't stop to paint every little thing. Which, knowing him, he'll probably do anyway."

* * *

><p>"Kanda," the Matron called. Kanda turned slightly to see the Matron gesturing for him. A bit confused, he followed her as she led him through the infirmary doors. "You were right. It's not too bad, but she's got a cough from all the dust that she inhaled. She's also frail from dehydration, starvation, and being a human backpack for a whole day." The last part was said irritably. She looked on the verge of ranting at him, but Kanda beat her to it.<p>

"Wasn't my fault. She ate everything I had, and I couldn't get her off my back," Kanda snapped. The Matron nodded, obviously satisfied he wasn't a complete bastard.

"Reever said you didn't know how long she'd been under there?" the Matron asked. Kanda shook his head. "And do you have any idea how she got the bruises she has?"

"I thought they were from the building partially collapsing," Kanda said.

The Matron shook her head. "I don't think so. I'll let you know when I find out what they were from, but it's not that. When should she be apprenticed, and do you know by whom?"

"No clue."

"Tell whoever apprentices her that she should probably stay in here for at least a week and a half. After that she just needs plenty of food and liquids," the Matron said, leading him toward a bed.

"Why tell me this?" Kanda asked.

The Matron didn't respond. They stopped by the bed. The girl was awake now, sitting up and looking around. Her face was mostly expressionless, but nervousness showed slightly in her blank eyes. When they came within a few feet of her, she immediately looked up, and focused intently upon Kanda, ignoring the Matron.

"Stay here for a minute," the Matron said. She turned, and walked from the room in the direction of the kitchens.

Kanda shook his head in disbelief. What the hell did she need him here for anyway?

The girl was still staring at him. Her bunny was, too. Or seemed to be. He stared back, and Baka cocked her head to the side. "What?" Kanda asked irritably.

She gave a mystical smile in response, the first expression he'd ever seen her show. Her gaze flickered over his shoulder, and he glanced in her direction of sight to see the Matron returning with food on a tray. When she was in reach, she passed it to Kanda. "Make sure she eats it," the Matron said. "I have to go check up on someone not in the infirmary, even though they damn well should be. Stupid idiot..." she muttered to herself as she left the two.

Kanda stared after her retreating back. "That's it, someone hates me. Someone really hates me."

The girl laughed silently. Kanda flicked his gaze back to her, mystified. If there had been sound, it looked like it would have been a beautiful one to hear. Instead, only the faintest whisper of air was audible.

"Oh, Kanda. You're here too?" Linali asked from behind him. There were other footsteps with her.

"Got dragged in by the Matron," Kanda responded.

"Poor Yuu." Lavi grinned as he stepped into view. "Hey, Bunny-chan. I don't think we ever really introduced ourselves. I'm Lavi, that's Allen, she's Linali, and this is is Yuu."

"Call me that one more time, you baka Rabbit, and you won't be seeing straight for days," Kanda said threateningly.

Bunny-chan/Baka frowned. She pointed at Lavi. "Lavi." Lavi nodded eagerly. She pointed to herself. "Baka."

The three other than Kanda stared at her. Then they all turned to face him. "Kanda!" all three shouted.

"You idiot!" Allen exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air to whack them both against the top of his head as Linali smacked Kanda over the head with a clipboard. "Now she thinks her name is really 'idiot' in Japanese! You're a horrible person!"

"Kanda!" Lavi trilled. "Explain to her that that's not her name!"

"She'll figure it out eventually!"

"Well, _help_ her figure it out _now_!" Linali scolded. "Honestly! She can't just walk around telling people her name is 'Baka'!"

Baka watched the crossfire of words go back and forth, her bunny in front of her face. It covered almost everything but her eyes, which were mostly shaded by her hair. As Kanda was about to say something back, she suddenly thrust the bunny out straight from her face into the middle of the argument, quelling it with the mere action. "Bunny."

All four raised an eyebrow at her.

* * *

><p>Kanda walked back from the sparring area to the kitchen. He paused slightly as he came to the doors, and felt someone bump into his back. He sighed.<p>

Baka, as he had officially come to call her despite his friends' wishes, had taken to following him around everywhere, even though she wasn't supposed to be out of the infirmary yet according to the Matron. He almost never noticed her because of their large height difference and how she walked directly behind him, and on top of that, it could take him hours to herd her back to the infirmary and alert the Matron that she had escaped again. This been occurring frequently for the past two days.

He turned around and began the walk back to the infirmary. At the first turn, he glanced over his shoulder. Baka was standing a few feet back, almost exactly where Kanda had first come to a complete stop. She hadn't moved.

Baka glanced at the direction Kanda was heading in, and then back to him, eyes big and sad. She didn't want to go back, her posture said.

Kanda muttered something incoherent, and walked back to the girl. She kept her eyes fixed on him as he approached. Her head cocked slightly as he stopped before her, and crouched down to come eye to eye with her. The two stayed that way for a second, before Kanda quietly said, "You need to head back to the infirmary. You're not well yet." Baka shook her head. She still didn't want to go back. "Go back, Baka."

Another shake. "Yuu."

He felt a tick mark on his head, but didn't yell at her. Apparently, the first thing someone told her was what she immediately came to call things. Which meant if he had only acted faster, he could've had her calling Allen and Lavi some really evil things.

"Head back to the infirmary, Baka."

"No. Yuu," she said firmly.

Kanda opened his mouth to argue, but abruptly he realized something. He took her hand, and rose from his crouch. Her hand rose with his, and when he turned to walk back to the infirmary again, she willfully followed him.

At the infirmary, the Matron barely glanced up as they reentered. "You need to find a way to keep her here," she said.

"Working on it," Kanda responded. Again, that had been the normal routine for the past two days. Tugging ever so slightly on her hand, he led Baka back to her bed, where food was already waiting for her. Reluctantly, she slid back on to the bed, not letting Kanda's hand go. He passed the tray to her with his free hand. For her, though, it took two hands to hold it. She stared at if for a moment, before slowly letting Kanda's hand free to take hold of the tray.

Baka put it in her lap, nibbling slowly at the food. She kept glancing at Kanda out of the corner of her eye as if to make sure he hadn't disappeared. He, meanwhile, stared off into space at some vacant part of the wall, after sitting down in the chair that someone had pulled up previously. When her food was gone, she looked straight at Kanda. He didn't avert his gaze from the wall.

Time passed like that for about an hour. Him staring at the wall, her staring at him.

The Matron passed by at the end of the hour, and tapped at her wrist, where a watch would be. "New record. She's stayed here longer than an hour. At this rate, she might be able to get out of here faster than a week." She scooped up the tray and empty bowl before retreating again.

The next day found both asleep in the infirmary. Baka on the bed, and Kanda still in the chair. The Matron refrained from making any comments, and went to make her request for the next round of food, adding a bowl of soba to the regular list.

* * *

><p>Several days later, Lavi trotted into the infirmary, easily picking out the Exorcist and child. "Hey, Yuu! Bunny-chan!" Kanda turned his head, annoyed, as the redhead bounced up to the bed. Baka cocked her head at him, confused about the name choice he had used for her. She understood they were trying to change her name. She just didn't understand the reason why. "Tiedoll and Cloud are both here. As Komui thought, Zokaro didn't want a new apprentice. And Cross is... well, he was already out of the running anyway."<p>

Kanda stood and Baka quickly swung out of bed as he did. Several bones in Kanda made cracking sounds from being sedentary for so long. Lavi raised his eyebrow, and Baka poked Kanda in the side. "Getting old," she said. Kanda gave her an irritated look. Lavi laughed, and turned to lead the two to Komui's office.

At the entrance, Lavi waved them goodbye and walked down towards the library. Bookman was already present and unneeded. He trotted off to search out Allen and Linali.

Pushing open the door, Kanda walked inside with Baka trailing closely in his shadow. Tiedoll, Cloud, and Komui were inside, exchanging quiet words. Komui was grinning, Cloud looked amused, and Tiedoll was in his usual cheerful mood.

"Hey," Kanda said, getting their attention. He reached behind himself, and pushed the girl forward slightly. She resisted going out in front of him, preferring to stay close to his side.

"So this is our newest Exorcist," Tiedoll said sweetly, crouching down to eliminate their difference in height. "You already know Komui and Yuu-kun, but I'm Froi Tiedoll and this is Cloud Nyne. What's your name?"

"Baka," she said quietly. The other three in the room sweatdropped. Kanda was used to it by now and promptly ignored their questioning eyes.

"It's…ah…still up for debate. Due to an odd wording choice, she ended up thinking her name was Baka, although Allen, Lavi, and Linali are trying to convince her that her name is Bunny-chan instead. As of yet, it hasn't worked."

"Don't tell me the odd word choice was Yuu-kun's," Tiedoll sighed.

"Don't call me that," Kanda instantly countered.

"So, no one has yet seen her Innocence in action?" Cloud asked, redirecting the conversation.

"Not yet," Komui responded. No one spoke for a minute. Baka leaned against Kanda, grabbing at his fringe of his Exorcist coat. The adults here all seemed to know something the other two didn't. "So..." Komui said, the grin, that had retreated when Kanda had gathered their attention, returned. "Are we agreed on this matter?"

Kanda glanced from person to person. He knew where this was going. Oh, a lot of someones hated his guts.

Cloud smiled. "I believe we are."

Oh no.

"We are indeed. The girl's new teacher has been chosen," Tiedoll said cheerfully.

Oh _hell_ no. There was no way they were going to-

"Congratulations, Kanda Yuu."

Shit. They really were going to.

"You will be the first Exorcist-"

He really did get the worst missions, didn't he?

"-to not hold the rank of general-"

_Damn it._

"-and yet maintain an apprentice."

Were they all _insane_? Whose genius idea had this been?

"Exorcist Kanda. This is your new apprentice," Cloud finished, still smiling as she gestured at Baka.

* * *

><p>an: _I just hope Kanda never finds us. _They would find us in so many pieces that they would be even _less _than ashes. _*shudder*_

*A self sacrifice that samurais did. And still do, so long as a copy of _The Last Samurai_ still exists.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi, this is Sekai and Tsuki saying "**DON'T KILL US!**" We really didn't mean for that hiatus, but it just sort of…happened. Whoops..

Do we own D. Gray-Man? *glances at the name of this site* I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count. How about a hint. It rhymes with **NO**.

* * *

><p>Fuck.<p>

Staring warningly and evenly at both generals and Komui, he waited (not so) patiently for one of the generals to grin even wider and admit that they were actually taking Baka on as an apprentice. That's what a tiny part of his mind hoped. The rest took in their joyful expressions, postures that looked ready to either yell at him to calm down or hide behind something, and lack of saying that they were joking and came to the assumption that they were all indeed idiots.

After a full minute had passed with Baka still leaning on his side and now looking up at him, Kanda finally said, "What?"

"Kanda, you're taking this girl on as an apprentice," Cloud said.

"_What the f-hell_?" He would have used a stronger vocabulary of profanity had the kid not been within hearing range. Seeing as the girl's word choice grew at an alarmingly exponential rate, Kanda figured that the words he was exposing her to should be dulled down to at least a T-rating.

"Listen, Yuu-kun," Tiedoll became more serious (well as serious as he could manage, anyway). Kanda twitched at the use of his name. "You're the only one who can apprentice her now."

He protested quite loudly to this. "No, I'm not!" There should have been applause for his impressive use of exactly no swear words.

"Then," Komui said, trying to stop smiling, "can you say that if a general takes her as an apprentice she won't find her way straight back to you, as she's already proven she's capable of doing several times?"

"Yes."

"Honestly?"

"..."

"Exactly. We've already spoken to the higher-ups, and they've said that as long as she makes some sort of progress, you'll be stuck with her—I mean, be her teacher. Ah, and if she doesn't make progress under you, that will require her to be apprenticed to a general, which in turn will require _you_ to be re-apprenticed under a general."

* * *

><p>"Wow. They've been in there for ten minutes now. What's going on in there?" Allen asked. They'd just heard a muffled shout from an angry Kanda inside.<p>

"No idea," Lavi shrugged.

"Idiot apprentice. Why aren't you in there?" Bookman asked behind Lavi. The redhead turned just in time for the old man/panda to whack him over the head. "I told you to be in there, didn't I?"

"No, you didn't-"

Bookman smacked him again. "Yes, I did. In there. Now." He pushed him toward the door, which Lavi opened. In response, Kanda shouted at him indiscernibly for exactly five seconds before violently slamming the doors closed again. Inside, the shouting ensued between Kanda, Cloud, Komui, and occasionally the more reticent Tiedoll.

Lavi glanced back at the three behind him, eyebrow raised. "If someone else wants to step into that battlefield, be my guest."

Half an hour of yet more lively shouting continued. Once in a while, it seemed like they might stop before someone said something that threw them all right back into the argument again. Bookman and Lavi tried to listen in, but the yelling all flowed together since they were all mostly trying to speak their minds as loudly as possible and all at once and the sound was distraught from the barrier the door posed.

Finally, between gestures made between Bookman and Lavi, it seemed like they had come to an agreement on what was taking the foursome in the room so long. While Bookman was more reserved, but his apprentice had quite the evil smirk growing across his face. Linali and Allen glanced at each other, and then at the ones who evidently held all the secrets of the universe, but neither were willing to share their gleaned information.

"Well, well, the results of this should be intriguing," was all Bookman would say.

Eventually, the door opened. Lavi doused his amusement, not wanting to give away that at least two of them already knew the proceedings' results. Komui was standing behind his desk, appearing frighteningly triumphant, and the generals were cloaked in similar expressions. Kanda looked like someone had just tried to light his hair on fire. And succeeded. Baka was...well, Baka.

"So?" Bookman asked Tiedoll. Tiedoll gave him a nod. Lavi grinned.

"What?" Allen asked, looking between the three. Cloud had walked off. "_What_?" None of them answered him. The white-haired teen walked quickly up to Kanda and stood in his path. "Bakanda. What happened? Who's she going to be apprenticed to?"

The shell-shocked samurai muttered some sort of answer, and walked around Allen.

"Allen," Tiedoll said, stopping Allen from following Kanda in pursuit of an answer. "He's already upset about what happened. I wouldn't pressure him about it."

"What _did_ happen?" Linali asked, bringing light to Allen and her ignorance.

"Kanda is about to go down in history as the first Exorcist not to be a general, and still have an apprentice," Lavi said, grinning his head off. His two friends stared at him.

"No, really, what happened?" Allen asked, totally dismissing the redhead.

Tiedoll nodded. "He's right. It's not like we can take her from him, or she'll just go right back. So we have to do it this way. It's this, or apprentice both her and Kanda to a general."

"Wow..." Linali murmured, staring after Kanda's retreating back. "Bet he wasn't happy about that decision, huh?"

"No, he wasn't. He was very insistent about not taking her as an apprentice," Tiedoll said. "However, we'd decided ahead of time that maybe this would be a good learning experience for both of them. I guess the question will be who's teaching whom."

"How did you convince him to take her in?" Lavi asked, honestly confused.

"We didn't." Komui had come to join them in the hallway. "She did."

"Say wha?"

* * *

><p><em>"Yuu Kanda, quit with this senseless arguing and just take her in!" Cloud shouted.<em>

_"Hell, no! There's no way I'll be able to apprentice a six-year-old girl! That'd be suicide for both of us!" Kanda yelled back._

_During the argument, he'd ended up several paces in front of Baka. The other three adults had also ended up that close so that they could all yell in each other's faces. Suddenly, he felt her presence at his side again. He glanced down, and then quickly back up again, immediately wishing that he hadn't. He gritted his teeth, glaring intensely at the ceiling._

_Cloud looked down at the girl, who was staring up at Kanda with a mournful expression, tiny sparkles of mist clouding her big eyes._

_Tiedoll and Komui followed her gaze. The argument came to a pause, Kanda not knowing what to say, and the two generals and Komui didn't want to risk ticking off the teenager again when it appeared that disaster had been averted._

_"Goddamn it," Kanda snarled, but the resignation in his voice was clear. He turned, and stormed to the door. Behind his back, Baka's eyes cleared up, the hint of a smile crossed her face, and she put up both hands, one with all five fingers splayed, and the other with only two._

_Komui, Cloud, and Tiedoll sweat-dropped as they realized that not only had her first thought been that Kanda had been wrong about her age, but that she also might not have been the innocent little girl they had originally thought her to be._

_As Kanda opened the door to leave, Baka hurried to catch up with him._

Kanda's thoughts had gone nearly uninterrupted with vulgar language ever since his new _apprentice_ had been officially assigned. Looking back on it, he realized that there really hadn't been any other option, and that he should have seen it coming. And because of the blackmail, he now had no way out of not training her. He was _not_ going to be re-apprenticed simply because he had a stalker. A tiny stalker, admittedly, but she hadn't taken to noticing that.

Since she still had a bit of time in the infirmary, although the Matron was pleased to say that it was only a few more days, Lavi had dropped by repeatedly to persistently mention that because of her age, someone was going to have to teach her in academics. Kanda had ignored him every time.

This attempt, however, was being reinforced with backup. Annoying-as-hell backup.

"Kanda! You _have_ to teach her!" Linali pleaded. "She already thinks her name is 'Baka', don't make it worse!"

"No, I _don't_ have to teach her! I already got stuck with her, isn't that bad enough?"

"She's sitting _right there_, nimrod!" Allen shouted. "Besides, it's because you're her teacher that you have to teach her! That's what the name 'teacher' means! Someone who teaches!" Of course, he was also mentally repressing the horrible images that brought to mind Cross and his version of 'teaching.'

"Wait, wait, wait," Lavi suddenly said, backpedaling in the conversation. "Yuu's right, actually. He _doesn't_ have to teach her in academics. Besides, he probably doesn't know much more than her in the first place." As Allen snorted in amusement, Kanda stood up threateningly, already beginning to draw Mugen. "Hey, I'm trying to help you here!" he said, holding his hands up. "Jeez..."

"Wait, what do you mean, he doesn't have to? You think she should go on in life ignorantly?" Linali asked, frowning.

"No, I mean _he_ doesn't have to. She needs to be taught, just not particularly by him. Anyone in the Order could teach her, if they wanted to," Lavi elaborated.

Allen nodded. "So, Linali, you, or I could teach her. Mostly you, though."

"Yeah." Lavi nodded. "Wait, what?"

Linali and Allen traded a happy look. "You're going to teach Bunny-chan!" she said.

"What?"

"Well, you suggested it. You'd have more experience in this than we would..." Allen ticked the reasons off on his fingers. "Need I continue?"

"Come on, that's evil," Lavi whined.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have tried to pressure me into it," Kanda shot back. Allen raised a daring eyebrow at the redhead, who was now completely stuck.

"Oh, damn it..."

Linali had decided. "Great! You'll start tomorrow!"

"So soon?" he sighed.

"Could start now instead," Allen pointed out.

"Tomorrow it is!"

"What's happening tomorrow?" Bookman asked, perching on Lavi's neck. "Bunny-chan's going to be taught?"

"Why'd you ask in the first place if you already knew?" he asked, waving his arms and shaking his head in rough and unsuccessful attempts to shake the Panda off.

Bookman didn't seem to notice. Or care."Checking my facts. And you've decided to teach her?"

"I was forced into it."

"And while I'm sure that you will fail miserably at it, good luck."

"Hey! Would it hurt to have at least _some_ sort of confidence in me?"

"...Would you like me to lie, then?"

"Well, if you're so sure of it, why don't _you_ teach her?"

"If you insist, I will." Bookman hopped off Lavi's neck as he finally stopped moving around, and padded out of the infirmary.

"I think he was planning that the whole time," Lavi absently noted, rubbing his neck.

"Better him than you," Kanda said, arms crossed. Baka was lying facedown on the bed, seeming to enjoy the feeling of it. Her bunny was perched on her back, giving them all an evil eye while still grinning fondly.

"Why is everyone insulting me today?" the apprentice Bookman demanded, mildly annoyed. "Sheesh, people. Do I have a sign over my head or something?"

Allen waved his hand over Lavi's head. "Not that I see, no. Kanda, are you and Bookman seeing things again?"

"Shut up, Moyashi." The slightest sound of a 'b' had come before 'Moyashi' but Kanda had happened to see one of Baka's ears twitch in response, and quickly changed the wording. It didn't seem like Linali or Allen had noticed, but Lavi was smiling. The swordsman shot him a glare with 'You mention this, you die,' imbedded in it.

* * *

><p>Baka was released from the infirmary a few days later, therefore leaving her in a complete apprenticeship much to her teacher's growing dismay and horror. After leaving vague instructions about what to do, Generals Tiedoll and Cloud left Kanda to fend for himself when it came to his apprentice. The science team began making Baka a uniform, a project with the problem being that they knew nothing of her Innocence other than it being an Equipment Type. They came to the assumption that it allowed her to teleport.<p>

This was all done with two snickering Exorcists making happy/snide comments to Kanda every five seconds. The only thing that kept Lavi and Allen alive was sheer willpower on Linali's part.

The uniform making was put on momentary hold while Baka was taken to see Hevlaska. Komui and Kanda stood on the platform, while she was carefully raised above their heads. A few seconds passed with nothing happening.

"... Hevlaska?" Komui finally asked tentatively.

Hevlaska lowered Baka back to the platform. "I'm sorry. I don't know. I can sense that her Innocence is strong, but that's all. Something in the rabbit is blocking me."

Komui frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Something's neutralizing me. I don't even know if it means to," Hevlaska says.

"What could do that?" Kanda asked.

"I can't say."

"You don't know?" Komui sighed in resignation. What Hevlaska said next made him perk up.

"No. I can't _say_," Hevlaska corrected. Komui's eyebrows raised.

Kanda didn't catch on. "What?"

"Kanda, you and Baka should get something to eat, or see how the uniform is coming along. Maybe see if you can find out anything else about Baka's Innocence," Komui said casually. However, it was obvious that he was being anything but.

Kanda stared at him for a long moment, before silently leading the girl from the platform. The two walked through the hall to where the training room was. Baka walked directly behind him, bumping into him every few seconds. Before they were completely out of sight, Kanda turned and threw one arm out to catch Baka before she lost her balance and fell, having expected Kanda's back to be there. "What is _wrong_ with you?" he asked without expecting an answer.

In response, Baka stuck the bunny in his face. "Bunny."

Kanda turned and started walking again, making sure that they were vaguely side-by-side instead of head-by-back.

Komui and Hevlaska watched them go. They turned the corner, and the supervisor turned to the Innocence keeper. "Do I have clearance?"

"You do."

* * *

><p>"Glad I ran into you," Bookman said. "Do you want to start now?" Bookman looked down and asked Baka. She gave an exaggerated cock of her head at him, all her hair sweeping to fall past her horizontal head. Kanda pushed her towards the elder.<p>

"Let the teaching begin!" Lavi crowed, appearing from behind a corner. "Have fun!"

"Don't make me resort to violence in front of the kid."

"So picky..." he pretended to be hurt. Kanda swatted him with Mugen's sheath. "Jeez, why am I surrounded by such aggressive people? Stop hating! Start loving!" Behind him, Linali sighed. She'd been walking with him to get a meal, and now she was beginning to wish she hadn't. Obviously, Allen had already been there a second before Lavi had even suggested the very idea.

Kanda brandished Mugen threateningly at Lavi, whose grin turned a shade nervous. "Ne, what's that look for?" Lavi ducked under a swing. He took off running toward the cafeteria, waving his arms around while Kanda chased after him. Linali was seriously beginning to wonder how Lavi was still alive. He had little next to no common sense.

Linali looked over at Bookman, who'd watched the scene with a raised eyebrow. His gaze flickered over to her as she turned to him. "He really isn't right in the head, is he?" Linali shook her head. "Well, I'll be off. Need to teach the youngling." Baka looked up at him, confused. Then she averted her gaze to where Kanda had disappeared around the corner. She started after him. "Oh dear. This may be harder than I originally assumed."

* * *

><p>The Threesome of Doom and Linali made their way back from lunch to see how Baka and Bookman were doing in the library. When they arrived, they followed the soft murmur of Bookman's voice from a corner.<p>

The sight they saw stunned them. Papers were sprawled all over the table with complex equations or diagrams on them. Baka was using the back of one to quickly sketch out a triangle, which Bookman quickly assessed, and then assigned a cosine to one angle, and lengths to two sides. He was talking about something else while he did.

"Pop quiz. What's the Fibonacci Sequence mostly used for?"

"Hey! Aren't you supposed to start at her level without skipping five grades?" Lavi pointed out, dropping into a chair at the table. The other three looked over the shoulders of the people sitting at the table to look at the papers scattered around.

"Shut up or go away," Bookman snapped without looking up.

At the same time, Baka quietly answered, "The Golden Ratio. Architecture." She wrote some numbers down on the triangle, and nudged the paper over to Bookman. He nodded, and flipped up the paper to show the surprised teens.

"...Well," Allen finally said. "She definitely has an education."

"Really?" Bookman said sarcastically. He ignored the newcomers, and turned back to Baka. He continued teaching the sine, cosine, and tangent ratios. "Now, you can solve for the triangle if you have three things. That can be three sides, two angles and one side, or two sides and one angle in some cases, so long as..."

The teens departed silently, trying to avoid disturbing the 'class'. They came to a stop several shelves away, where they wouldn't be heard.

"That was...ah...interesting," Lavi said. "I wonder who taught her. They did a good job."

Linali looked worried. "Lavi? How smart would you say she is?"

He cocked his head. "That was pretty advanced math. I'd say she's got a high school education at the least.* Why?"

Biting her lip, she asked "Doesn't it seem odd? She's seven and has a high school education. She doesn't speak often, but when she does it's to quell arguments or answer a question. Even then, it's one worded. She doesn't advertise her intelligence, but it seems obvious at the same time. Something's up with her Innocence, and we don't know how strong it is. When the Akuma attacked, her Innocence didn't push her to destroy them. It probably made her get under the table. If it could let her teleport, why didn't it get her out from under there instead of getting Kanda? Also, something in the bunny _is _alive, but there might be more than one living thing."

"Huh?" Lavi asked.

"Where'd you get that from?" Allen asked. He'd heard what Kanda had explained due to their persistence over lunch as well, so the only things new to him about all this were the assumptions.

"Hevlaska said that there was something blocking the Innocence. As for it being alive, the bunny moves when it's not in contact with Bunny-chan or when she's not conscious. Also, it seems to have a personality different from hers. It's almost... um..." She searched for a word that didn't make the bunny sound evil. The problem was, that seemed to be exactly what it was.

"Twisted? Demented? _Eeeeeevil_?" Her redheaded companion, on the other hand, seemed to have no quarrel with describing the bunny as an evil being. "What the-?" he suddenly yelped, jerking backwards. The other three turned to him, surprised. Lavi raised a shaking hand, pointing above Linali's head.

The bunny was sitting there, grinning at them all maliciously. Its eyes were red. Blood red. And very much alive.

Allen took a few cautious steps back. "Now that… that's just downright creepy."

* * *

><p>*Sure, it depends on what school you go to, whether you take advanced classes, and if you skip grades, but for a solid beginning in Trigonometry, I would guess high school (yearsgrades 9-12) if you really take an interest in math. If not, early college/university. Then of course, this is a completely fictional place where the splendors of trig and calculus may go untouched. Whatever.


	4. Chapter 4

a/n: Tsuki and I have decided something: Fuck. The. Story line. Well, more or less. It's just getting so complicated with all the crap and D. Gray-Man's updating way too slowly. So we're kinda making our own AU of it. We're not sure when it will split off, but it's going to have to. Thank you to all the support you reviewers gave! We weren't thinking of updating it any further, but you all pushed us to. So, if you want to keep us convinced, review! Anything to add to that, Tsuki?

_Well Sekai, I think that this unusual, yet charismatic, mix of buttery popcorn and brownies is quite delightful. Could use some caffeination. But as to the story, I think we need to add some things that we just can't do when we have to follow closely to the original (which needs to move along, or at least update, a little damn faster). Things like...like...lasers. But enough with our absurdly long author's note. On to better things. Like caffeinati-I mean, Kanda getting dissed by a pipsqueek girl._

* * *

><p>Bookman glanced out of the corner of his eye, without making it overly obvious, while continuing to teach Baka. Kanda was-asleep?-on a chair nearby. He hadn't moved in the past half hour. Lavi was drooling on the floor, bored to sleep of his own studies and watching Baka's. Linali was helping her brother elsewhere, and Allen had just left to decimate their rations for the next three decades. The girl on the table was now demonstrating how to make music using math, and doing it disturbingly well. They'd gone through all normal school classes by lunch, taken a break, and started burning through college. Bookman had run out of things to teach that he knew, and had pulled over a table that was now stacked with books so he could see what she knew. How she had memorized all this at such a young age was beyond him.<p>

He glanced at a clock and stretched out his limbs. While extricating himself from his chair, he closed the thick tome on his lap, "The rest can wait until tomorrow morninig. We all need to get some sleep." The leg of his chair magically happened to implant itself in Lavi's abdomen. "In a bed." His apprentice shot forward in reflex, knocking the chair off himself. He gave a moan of pain, before looking around and waving cheerfully at Baka.

"Yuu's asleep?" Lavi asked, getting to his feet.

Kanda grabbed both arms of his chair, swung it over his head, and smacked the redhead upside the head with it. Lavi yelped, and ducked a second swing. Baka and Bookman exchanged impassive and uncaring looks, and the latter departed from the library. Baka waited patiently for her 'teacher' to quit chasing the obnoxious Bookman Jr., and settled comfortably back in her chair for a long wait.

"Kanda! Lavi! Bunny-chan!" Komui called from the doorway. Kanda barely paused, chair (albeit, missing a leg) hovering over his head, and then continued with his half-completed murder. Lavi didn't even bother to stop running for his life. Baka peeked out from a bookshelf, and cocked her head at him. The supervisor walked over to her, jerked a thumb at the other two, and said, "At least he's not using Mugen anymore."

Baka didn't respond, but a sheath flew over a shelf and knocked Komui on the head. It was enough of an answer for the both of them. He sighed, but clapped his hands together for attention."Okay! Can we get to the mission?"

* * *

><p>They finally managed to get to the office room without another mishap. Lavi wisely decided to pester Baka instead of Kanda, as the reaction would be considerably less violent. When they arrived, they found Linali and Allen already waiting for them. Komui rushed to his sister, and the white-haired exorcist wisely scooted out of the way to keep from being trampled. Reever passed them, shaking his head, and dropped off a stack of papers. Komui's attention immediately went to them, and he started on his complaints.<p>

The samurai tapped a finger on Mugen warningly.

Half an hour after Komui had first gathered them, he finally started in on the briefing.

"There are five of us here. You don't need that many on one mission," Linali pointed out, not wishing to be stuck with a trio set on killing each other in a cramped train cabin for the next twelve hours. "Allen, wake up." She prodded the teen, who had fallen asleep during the wait. He woke with a sleepy grunt.

"Of course," Komui replied while Allen looked sleepily around, "but you're not going on the same mission. You'll be splitting into two groups in about three weeks, but since you're all going off in the same direction I figured I'd just send you all together. Linali, Allen, and Lavi, you will break off from Kanda and Bunny-chan at Sensdale. From there, you three need to go to a small town, where there's a chance there will be a loose piece of innocence running around. Read the rest in the books. Kanda, you and Bunny-chan are heading in the opposite direction-"

"Good."

"-and going to a secluded village where there have been reports of Akuma," Komui finished, ignoring Kanda's interruption. "All of you will also be passing through an area where it looks like Akuma have been terrorizing a village before splitting up."

"Why send three of us for an Innocence-gathering mission?" Allen asked. "Is there some sort of threat where we're going?"

"No, but we'll be sending you somewhere else after you retrieve the Innocence. If there's nothing else…."

"Nii-san, shouldn't you actually brief us on the missions?" Linali asked with a weary sigh. This wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last.

"Reever writes good reports. Puts lots of work into them, I'm sure. And all of you can read. Besides, I have work to do." He motioned at the paperwork. Doubt went across all of the Exorcists' faces, none of them believing him for a second. "What's with those looks?"

The five of them decided to leave it at that, and left the Order.

* * *

><p>One week into the mission, and Kanda was about to lose it and kill his teammates. If it weren't illegal and Linali hadn't been around to protect her friends, Usagi and Moyashi would most definitely had been dead at least seventeen times over and missing at least half their limbs. After (literally) hopping on a train and slipping aboard, they'd found their compartment and started to wait for their destination. Within seconds, Baka had curled up between Kanda and the window and passed into Lala Land without a sound. Her teacher had attempted to do the same, but within seconds Lavi had entered into a one-sided conversation with all of them that he mistakenly expected them to take part in.<p>

To make matters worse, Timcanpy had been flying around the compartment ever since they'd entered; it had taken a hazardous liking to chewing at Kanda's head. He blamed the Moyashi, and sent death threats toward the golden golem. Linali attempted to have everyone make peace with each other, but each try was shot down when another bout of violence broke out. Through what must have been sheer magic, the girl didn't wake even once.

That had been the first day, but the remainder of the week was essentially the same with small elaborations here and there. Baka didn't sleep constantly, but she didn't pay any of the others any attention. While most of the time it seemed like she was drifting off, she just sat and listened. This was a habit it seemed she had picked up even when they weren't travelling. What she was listening to, Kanda didn't have the faintest idea.

Finally, the first leg of their journey came to a long awaited end. They were all grateful to step off and leave the train behind them. The group headed into the nearby town, and found the hotel the Order had booked for them. The males had all been put in one room, and the girls in another. Baka had enough common sense not to wander the halls looking for her teacher, the decision fortified by Linali's careful eye.

Which left Allen and Lavi without their guardian angel to save them if they decided to pull a suicidal move on Kanda.

"So..." Lavi said, and across the room Allen could tell he was about to sign his death warrant, "how's the apprenticeship going?" He was lying half on, half off the blue-sheeted single. Kanda was cleaning Mugen on the opposite one. Allen had the bed across from the door. The three formed a U-shape in the room.

The older teen ignored him.

"Y-" he started, but stopped as he saw the look Kanda shot him from under his bangs. Remembering that there wasn't much space that the irritated teen would have to cross to murder him, he quickly switched word choice. "Ah, Kanda, how's your new apprentice doing?"

"You just saw her, idiot."

"Yeah, but I mean her apprenticeship."

Kanda raised the level of his glare a notch. "You know as well as I do. Is this questioning going anywhere?"

"I'm just making sure I've got my facts straight." Lavi was still grinning, like he knew something the others didn't. "Know what you're going to do to train her to fight the akuma?" The next glare sent by Kanda said it all. "No? Well, then-"

"I don't want your help," Kanda snapped, silencing the suicidal rabbit mid-sentence.

"I could be helpful!" he protested, put-off.

The swordsman gave him a level look of doubt and matching distrust. Lavi returned it with a stubborn one. Allen gave up on watching the ping pong match, and tried to go to sleep. It was, after all, nearing ten and the kitchen probably wouldn't be open.

"Don't you have something better to be doing?" Kanda sheathed his sword, and leaned it against the wall. Lavi shrugged as the other swung his legs onto his bed and rolled over so his back was to the room.

"Like sleeping?" Allen's muffled voice suggested dryly. Kanda's silence was the only agreement he gave. Lavi frowned in disappointment and gave an exaggerated sigh as he fell backwards on to the sheets.

"You two aren't any fun!" he complained. Neither of them said anything. Doing so would only suffer to encourage the redhead.

Unfortunately, he had no interest in sleeping. After ten minutes of tossing and turning, and Kanda was about to throw him out the window or strangle him, as usual, and Allen was ready to let him do it. The sounds stopped, at long last, and the two relieved teens felt they could finally look forward to some sleep.

Until Kanda felt a presence over his shoulder.

"So how're you going to teach your apprentice?" Lavi mock whispered.

A fist collided solidly with his chin. With a yelp, he jerked backwards and fell on his butt. "That hurt!"

"Then don't disturb people who are sleeping! Now shut up and go away!"

"I just wanted to ask a question!"

"Lavi!" Allen moaned in complaint at the same time Kanda shouted, "Usagi!"

* * *

><p>Across the hall, even after a few attempts at conversation from Linali's end, it was nearly dead silent. Baka had climbed into bed, sat there for an hour, and then fallen backwards with a fwump on to her pillow. That had been about the only sound to emanate from her since their arrival.<p>

Three and a half hours later, and a thud from across the hall startled both of them. Baka opened her eyes, and Linali looked up towards the door. "What was that?" she asked the air. She glanced across Baka, who shared her expression. They swung off their beds, and headed towards the door. The taller girl opened the door, and the shorter walked under her arm without bending down to duck into the hall. The bunny was sitting in the hallway, head cocked to one side, staring at the door to the boys' room. There was another loud sound, and other people were opening the doors down the hall in curiosity. Linali gave them apologetic looks, and knocked on the door. After no immediate answer except for another thump, she called out, "You need to quiet down in there! What're you doing?"

A yelp came from inside. Pause. Thud. Scrambling noises. The door flew open, and Lavi rushed out like hell was on its heels. The door slammed closed. Linali and Baka exchanged glances, and the younger of the innocent party shrugged. A loud crash later and the door was dangling sadly from its hinges as Kanda faced them, holding the bunny out by its neck. His apprentice retrieved her stuffed animal without surprise.

"What were you doing in there?" Linali asked, exasperated. Past Kanda, Allen waved at them with his makeshift white flag and proceeded to collapse on to his bed in what distinctly appeared to resemble relief.

"Lavi wouldn't let us sleep, so Kanda tried to kill him to shut him up," Allen explained. "He ran for it, as you saw."

"Try not to make so much noise. You're disturbing the other inn guests," she said, sighing at her friend's idiocy. The few still lingering in the hall, who started back to their rooms once the racket ceased gave vocal agreement before shutting their doors.

"As long as the Usagi lets us sleep, we'll have no problem. Tell him he can sleep outside," Kanda said shortly and closed the door. The two girls started to walk back to their room. Inside the boys' room, the irritated samurai walking back to his bed and stopped short as he saw the bunny sitting on his bed; the same one that he had handed back to its owner only a moment ago. He grabbed it, opened the door, and threw it out again. Baka reached over her head and caught it without a pause.

* * *

><p>[Two days later]<p>

Allen whipped around, staring at something. The other four paused, knowing without speaking what had caught his attention. A whirring sound came from his eye, and he started tugging the glove off his hand. Lavi's hand moved toward his hammer. Linali bent her knees, preparing to jump.

Kanda turned to Baka. "Pop quiz. How do you destroy the akuma?" She stared at him for a second, before pointing at the bunny that was sitting on a bench nearby. "Using your Innocence, yes. Do you know how to use your Innocence to defeat them?"

Somehow without him noticing, the bunny had appeared in her hand. She used it to gesture beating something with it.

He managed not to rub the bridge of his nose. "No, I don't think you can beat it with the Innocence. That might work, but it'll take longer. You need a faster method."

The waiting trio shifted. Allen was still staring at the akuma, waiting for it to do something. The other two wanted to go ahead and destroy it, but recognized that Baka needed to learn from this as well.

Across the square they were standing in, the akuma stood up from the outside cafe he'd been at. With a maniacal grin at everything around him, he jumped into the air, shedding his human skin at the same time. The level two akuma bounced off a building. It flung its arm out, and what looked like beads flew from it. Everywhere the beads touched, they exploded, taking out chunks the size of a refridgerator around them.

Kanda seemed unperturbed. He continued waiting for an answer, arms crossed over his chest. Baka looked straight back at him, similarly unmoved by the surrounding destruction.

The other Exorcists weren't into waiting. "Kanda... we need to do something before someone gets hurt," Linali said, with an edge to her voice. Civilians had run out of the area, dashing for safety. He gave a sigh, acknowledging her point. He made a hand gesture, signaling for them to go ahead. He unsheathed Mugen, and the four turned to the akuma in sync. It looked back at them, amused.

And then a laser shot over the Exorcists' shoulders and incinerated it into dust.

Their jaws dropped. Slowly, the four turned around.

Baka cocked her head at them, bunny in hands. The bunny's eyes were glowing the same red that the laser had been, and it had a maniacal grin somehow ingrained in the stitching of its smile. The girl was smirking, but otherwise looked normal.

The older Exorcists exchanged glances. "Um..." Lavi said.

Allen started, "Uh..."

"That was..." Linali tried.

"Well. She knows how to work her Innocence," Kanda stated, blunt as usual and satisfied at his teaching methods. The other three stared at him. Baka smiled. The bunny's grin stayed the same, and the eyes still gleamed a malicious red.

* * *

><p>They ran into no more akuma up to and after they parted ways at the three week mark. Lavi had wisely backed off on pestering Baka, especially when the bunny's eyes started glowing ominously. At that point, he had shut up altogether. To Kanda, it was heaven. He was starting to get comfortable with this teaching gig.<p>

On yet another train taking them further and further from the apprentice-teacher pair, they immediately started talking about the mysterious girl and her Innocence.

"It doesn't have anything to do with teleportation, we know that!" Lavi said quickly. "Now we just have to worry about it vaporizing us!"

"You especially. I think it's got something against you," Allen commented. Lavi groaned, putting his head in his hands. He shook it, already thinking about what to put on his headstone. Linali patted his back reassuringly, even though there would be nothing they could do to protect him against the wrath of the innocence bunny. "Isn't it ironic? Kanda always calls you 'rabbit', and that's how you're probably going to get killed."

"She's not going to kill you," Linali sighed. The other two stared at her. "She's a girl! And she's not as evil as you think, really. You're making it out like she's a demon!"

"She's not!" Allen said, and Lavi finished the thought for him, "The bunny is!"

She sighed again, shaking her head. "And she can control the bunny." They gave her doubtful looks. "She's not going to let it kill you, Lavi. Or you, Allen!" The guys still looked hesitant. "Come on, give her some credit! Fine, just don't pester her. Then they won't have any to reason to vaporize you."

Nodding, they continued on with the original topic of conversation. "So, how's he going to teach her?" Lavi asked. "Since he wouldn't tell me when I asked him," he grumbled.

"Lavi, I was ready to kill you to get you to be quiet," Allen sighed with exasperation. "Now all he has to teach her is the other aspects of her Innocence, like what else it does. Since it seems like everyone's Innocence has more than one thing it can do. She needs to find what else it can do so she doesn't accidentally blow up an ally."

"'Accidentally,'" Lavi repeated, putting air quotes around the word.

Linali rolled her eyes, and Allen continued speaking. "He should make sure she can aim, and dodge enemy fire. She's going to need to recognize other Exorcists for when she goes out on her own. That's all I can think of, but I think he's going to have to be stuck with her for another few years. Maybe until she's thirteen or so."

"Why?" Linali asked. Catching on, she nodded as she thought it out aloud, "Because she's too young to be out on her own."

"Right," Allen agreed. He frowned. "During the fight...did either of you notice anything strange?"

"Other than the whole stuffed bunny shooting lasers out of its eyes part?" Lavi raised an eyebrow. His friend shook his head.

"No, like..." He took a deep breath. "I saw another akuma. When her Innocence was activated, I saw another akuma behind us. I didn't see where it was or where it went, but it was there. I'm sure of it."

"Why didn't you mention it earlier?" Lavi asked.

"The akuma was gone. We weren't going to find it. There was nothing in that square, and it had already blended into the crowds of normal people to be gone that fast. I don't know how it hid its presence from my eye, but I couldn't see it once the first akuma was destroyed. And... I don't think we could've handled it." He grimaced.

"Wha?" Lavi exclaimed. He leaned forward, and waved his arms around, almost hitting both friends. "But there were five of us! And we aren't weak, either! Even Baka's new to this stuff, and she's blasting away at our job!"

Allen shook his head. "We wouldn't have made it. Even with five of us, and not with that many civilians nearby to protect. I didn't mention it to Kanda and Baka because they would've wanted to go back and fight it, but especially with a new Exorcist with us someone would've gotten killed. The akuma must have not been killing people, since Komui would've mentioned a large amount of deaths. I think this akuma was just reporting back to the Millennium, which means he knows about Baka."

"Why do you think that, Allen?" Linali asked.

"It was...not something he would want destroyed." He rubbed his scarred eye. "It was really strong... Really strong. I don't even know what level it was. Past a level four. And old, too. And...it seemed like it had lost its chains. Like it was free to go, but had stayed here so long it had developed its own soul and the original had deteriorated. But what was really weird..." He frowned for a second, then shook his head. "I'm not even sure if I'm interpreting this right. It just seemed...like it didn't like to kill. Like it never did that anymore. The akuma looked... human. It's soul had the appearance of a human, but it was still an akuma. I don't get it."

"We have to report that to the Order," Linali said urgently. "Something that strong needs to be warned about. But if it doesn't kill, why would the Millennium keep it around?"

"Maybe it's just an observer. If it can hide its presence, maybe it can pass as human even near Allen and pieces of Innocence and acts like a spy for the Millennium," Lavi suggested.

"I hope not," Linali said quietly. "If that's true... We can't trust anyone who's not an Exorcist to be safe."

"Not even...anyone in the Order," Allen said, horrified. "No, especially anyone in the Order."

"That means we can't report this!" Lavi realized. "If they're in the Order, we don't want to give away that we're onto them. So, we have to keep this to ourselves, unless we're talking to another Exorcist. Speaking of which, remember to tell every Exorcist you see about this outside of the Order. They've got cameras inside it, and we don't want it recorded."

"Wait, why'd the akuma drop his guard?" Allen pondered. "It wouldn't want me to see him if it went right back under cover."

"One of its kin was killed. It probably lost its concentration, dropped the cover for a split second, and got it back under control once it realized the mistake," Lavi suggested.

"Unless it wants us to be doing this." Linali rubbed her head, which was now aching. The other two felt the same. After a minute of thoughtful silence, she broke it. "Okay, we'll just have to assume it was a mistake on its part. There's nothing we can do until we know more of its plan if this is what it wants us to do. Just keep eyes out on anything weird."

Lavi laughed. "We live in a building that regularly gets destroyed by your brother's inventions! Doesn't that strike you as a little off?"

She rolled her eyes. "Anything weirder than normal," she corrected. Lavi continued grinning. Linali smiled back, and then suddenly her entire face lit up. "Wait, we can trust people at the Order!"

"The people who were there when we were here! The akuma couldn't have gotten from place to place that fast!" Allen added on. "We better ask before anyone forgets if they saw anyone else or not. And even then, we should keep the people we trust in the Order to a small amount."

"Like the group Komui works with and him," Lavi agreed.

"And Jerry," Allen added.

Linali rolled her eyes, but smiled as she said, "Always thinking about food, aren't you?"

Allen grinned and shrugged.

* * *

><p>an: _Author's note part two with Sekai and myself as your hosts. Oh you thought the a/ns were over, didn't you? Well you were wrong. *muahahaha* So. Did you enjoy the lasers? Wait, you thought I was kidding there, too? *evil laughter continues* Yeah, okay it's time for bed. School tomorrow. Woot._

_A sort of, but not really, important note... Some of the formatting got erased when this document went from Word to Google Docs and back to Word. So if anything in particular stands out, send us a memo._

_Sorry for not having as much Baka in here, but we needed some of the plot growth with the akuma._

_G'night all._


	5. Chapter 5

a/n: Wow, it's almost been a month. That's impressive. Um, sorry? Tsuki's medical life is basically hell, and because of that she couldn't get around to editing this and adding her own touch to it. I'm sorry about that, since she adds most of the humor, but there's nothing we can do.

_Update: Hey guys, this is the edited version courtesy of moi. I really quickly went through and did all the beta-ing, and this is the beautiful result. ^^ Sorry for the wait._

* * *

><p>Kanda rejoined Baka, who was sitting on the curb acting ever the innocent little child. She'd gotten more than a few comments, and everyone on the street seemed to be making it their priority to make sure she was alright. The rabbit had yet to show its demonic side, much to Kanda's irritation. So it was alright for the bunny to <em>bite<em> him, but it was alright to con strangers? A few minutes ago, Kanda's golem had alerted him that Komui was calling. He'd stepped out of the view of the busy street, as two people in an alley would be more conspicuous than one. Baka had stayed on the sidewalk, and was now making her debut as the perfect sweet child. Because what little girl with such a cute rabbit would ever cause endless amounts of trouble and mental perterbation to someone for her own humor and joy? _That one_.

With a small sigh of defeat, Kanda sat down next to the 'innocent, charming, sweet, little, cute, adorable—_he got it already, she was a con master_'—Baka, gathering more than a few surprised looks from the 'subtle' onlookers around the street in nearby cafes. Figuring that would only get more unwanted attention, he didn't dissuade any of them by brandishing Mugen. Even as he sat down, the bunny seemed to grow more serious. It was looking at him, perched on Baka's knee. Kanda still had yet to see the damn thing actually move, but that didn't mean it wasn't.

"General Keegar was murdered," he deadpanned. A small voice in his head told him he shouldn't expect her to take such news lightly. He told it to shut up and/or go to hell. This was promptly reinforced by the lack of response from his apprentice. "He was never considered for taking you in as an apprentice since he's been out on a strictly Innocence-gathering mission as of late, so you wouldn't have heard of him. He had Innocence on him, and all of them plus his own were destroyed. The higher ups think there's going to be more bodies stacking up, and they're going to be Exorcists. They want to destroy something called 'the Heart'. He didn't have time to explain what that was over the phone, but we're to protect it or whatever at all costs. In the mean time, they're gathering Exorcists from across the globe to protect the four remaining generals from the attack the Earl's launching."

Baka nodded. Again, Kanda wondered how the hell he'd gotten stuck with her. Why on earth would someone even think it would be a good idea to give him an apprentice? Especially one who was less than half his age. Probably the same idiots who repeatedly ignored child labor laws.

He decided to ignore the arguments piling up in his head, knowing he'd submitted all of them to no avail. The generals and Komui were standing steadfast in their idiotic belief that this was a good idea.

Baka cocked her head at the street, asking wordlessly if they were going to start walking to their next destination. Kanda had seen her do this before, and nodded in response. He stood, but she was already up before him and already heading down the street. He waited until they were out of range of the town before revealing any compromising information. "We're going to protect General Tiedoll. We meet up with two other Exorcists and work as a team."

She gave an affirmative, again managing it without speaking.

If his pride had allowed it (which it didn't), he would've asked how she did that. As it was, he didn't. The nod wasn't hard, but the part where she spoke long and intricate sentences without verbally communicating was downright impressive. She couldn't have gotten more across if she was psychic.

If he could find anything good out of getting an apprentice, it was that she managed to annoy Lavi and Allen (especially the first) even more than he did. Being her teacher gave him front row seats. Other than that, there was squat. Although he guessed it was kind of nice to be able to effectively counteract any of Lavi's quips that he had no social skills and didn't know how to talk to people, which couldn't be true if he was teaching someone something. Out of everyone he could've been assigned, it was damn good luck that the person was just about as unsocial as he was, not interested in the slightest in conversation, not in need of much teaching, and barely even there.

That was about it for ups on having an apprentice.

But damn, watching the Usagi's expression almost made it worth everything else.

* * *

><p>A week later, and they had yet to meet up with any of the other Exorcists. It'd been a month since he'd received his apprentice. Despite his original thoughts on the topic, Kanda and Baka had gotten along surprisingly well so far. He'd thought she would be a bother. She annoyed the pestering Usagi and Moyashi. He'd thought she would need constant attention. She was like a ghost. He'd thought this whole thing wouldn't end well, and he would catch shit about the outcome for the end of time. Things were going fine, by his definition of the word.<p>

Instead of the girl being the problem, Kanda was beginning to think that that bunny must be an akuma in its own right. Maybe it was its own special level of akuma: Level Infinity; Ruler of Hell. It made a point to appear in the worst places at the worst times, and was always watching. No matter where he looked, it was there, _staring at him_. If it knew everything going on while the planet spun, he would find no surprise in it. The bunny was Satan, or something close. Though descriptions made it seem tame, it was anything but. How could the thing ever be seen as a simple toy? He would never look at stuffed animals the same way again, and he certainly would never _follow_ one again. The first time he'd woken up to see the bunny staring at him had been downright disturbing. Even further unsettling, he'd gotten used to it. That was not a good sign in his opinion.

After they'd met the akuma in Baka's first confrontation, the science staff had pounced on their new information with glee. They'd tried to share numerous theories about the Innocence with Kanda, but he clearly stated to them several times how much he cared. It was not an impressive amount. On a scale of one to ten…probably somewhere around negative fourteen.

Whenever he had nothing else to do and his thoughts were drawn back to the mysterious circumstances surrounding Baka, he thought on the conversation that had taken place between Komui and Hevlaska. What had been blocking Hevlaska? She must've had an idea about what it was from what she'd said. Why couldn't she have told Kanda if he was going to be stuck with the kid?

Kanda glanced at Baka, who was sleeping next to him, head sagged against the window. Was it possible... that she knew? Did she know everything about what was going on, but didn't feel the need to share it? Even though it didn't seem accurate, she _was_ only seven. It was possible she didn't think it was important, or that maybe he already knew everything he needed to know.

It wasn't his place to ask, anyhow. Her business, not his. If she didn't think anyone else needed to know but that creepy bunny of hers, that was fine with him.

It wasn't like he was stuck with her, being her teacher and all. Or that, at this rate, the information she was withholding could potentially be life-threatening if unknown. Maybe not life-threatening, but might cause a maimed arm or something. Lost time spent healing up.

Either way, she was sleeping. He'd learned quickly that the bunny would have no qualms with biting if anyone dared try to wake her up. Kanda smirked slightly, remembering when Lavi had run around, the stuffed animal hanging off his neck with its teeth sunk in. Allen had been howling with laughter, and Linali had seemed increasingly exasperated. Kanda would prefer to not have to stick the rabbit with Mugen because it was drinking his blood.

The door slid open, and a man stepped in. He glanced around the compartment, and Kanda shot him a warning look of 'Enter and _die_'. The man took it in stride, nodded to him, and pleasantly said with an English accent, "Sorry, but the train's full. There's nowhere else."

Kanda gave a 'tch', and turned his head the other way to ignore him. Sadly, that was the truth. Several other people had stopped in, but not many had made it past the glare. The train was definitely filling up for someone to look in his cabin. The man sat down, lower legs crossed, and stared out the window contentedly. He was smiling slightly, but there didn't seem to be anything in particular that was humoring him. A bird flew past the window, and his smile increased slightly.

Another thing convenient about his new apprentice: when something went wrong, or he thought he might be getting soft, he could blame it on her.

No, he wasn't getting soft. The kid was just influencing him through some sort of mind control. That was it! That was how she communicated without speaking. Mind telepathy. Mystery solved.

Kanda's eye twitched slightly in annoyance. The man had gone from staring out the window to staring at him, still with that stupid look on his face of peace. "What?" he snapped at him.

The man didn't take any offence to the angry tone. He cocked his head slightly, and said, "I believe we've never met before."

Kanda stared at him through unamused, narrowed eyes. "No shit. Anything else stupid and obvious you want to state? Don't answer that, and especially don't talk to me."

The man chuckled slightly at that. Kanda turned away again, hoping for a chance at silence in the compartment this time. Baka was still sleeping, unaware of the new appearance in the room. Her head was leaning against the window, and at some point her feet had ended up on him. He really hoped she didn't decide to kick in her sleep. The problem became that he couldn't move her without chancing waking her up, and that would result in the bunny killing him. Or at least some serious bite wounds on his neck that he didn't want to have to explain later. His dignity was taking enough hits as it was without having to tell that story.

This summed down to one fact. He couldn't jump up and maim/strangle/generally kill the man across from him without being mangled/strangled/generally killed by the rabbit.

He'd mentioned that it was a demon, right? There was no other explanation.

"I'm sorry, I just think that a two hour train ride spent in complete silence would not be the best spent time. What do you think?"

"I think I specifically told you to stop talking. Are you deaf?"

"No, but you shouldn't assume things and state them without fully considering the aspects of it. I continued speaking merely to allow you a chance to reconsider."

Kanda gave him a full-on glare. Before then, he'd still been talking to one of the walls. The look he gave spoke lengths of how much he appreciated the 'chance'. The man raised his eyebrow slightly, the small smile still on his face. He was completely unperturbed by the harsh tone.

"That would be a no, then?" the man pressed gently.

In an evasion from any sort of prompt, Kanda halted any conversation from his end.

The man smiled, having expected as much. He was silent for a blissful two minutes, and Kanda was about to get his hopes up on the entire trip being spent the same way when the man asked, "You're travelling to Biperton, too?"

No response.

"I guess so, since you're on a train there. You'll at least be there for a while before you go somewhere else, so that would be a yes."

Was this guy stupid or something?

"What's your business there, if you don't mind me asking?"

Kanda gave him another glare before going back to looking at the wall.

The man cocked his head at him, as if searching out the answer from his mind. "Ah, stupid question." Yes it was. It was about time you noticed. "You're coat says you're an Exorcist, so you're out on a mission then? I bid you luck to wherever you go from here on your mission and journey."

Like he cared or depended on luck.

The man glanced at Baka. She was still oblivious about the one-sided conversation, or the newcomer in general. "Is she your sister or...?"

Kanda stared at him. _What_? Was she his _sister_? He was Asian, and she was... he didn't know what she was, maybe Mediterranean, but she looked nothing like him. She had olive skin color, and he was lightly tanned*. She had green eyes and brown hair, and he had black eyes and black hair. The only thing about them that looked the same was that they were both of the Homo sapien family.

Responding to the obvious but unspoken question, the man shrugged and said, "One or both of you could be adopted. I mean, she's either you sister or..."

"Or...?" The hell with the rabbit, the man was going to die if he was insinuating what he thought he was.

"Well, I don't mean to be rude, but people can have children pretty young-oh boy."

Kanda half stood, one arm reaching for Mugen, a low growl coming from his throat. Baka started to slide off, making a small sound of discomfort.

The stuffed bunny beat him to it. Kanda halted his movement, glancing at the rabbit sticking straight up out of the spot between the man's neck and his shoulder. A trickle of blood was already streaming out between the supposedly cotton teeth. There was no way cotton was that sharp.

"Ah. Hello." The man turned his head as best he could, peering at the small feet dangling just at the edge of his sight. "I guess that means no, then?"

"Apprentice," Kanda hissed through his teeth. With another small growl, he sat back down. Still sleeping, Baka readjusted to accommodate for the change in position. The rabbit had yet to move, and some gritting sounds came as the teeth rubbed together. Kanda felt no pity.

Baka still didn't have an Exorcist uniform, but the next time they stopped into an Order building she would be given one. While Kanda knew passerbys on the street had made their own speculations, an Exorcist with a small girl trailing behind, nobody had bothered to say anything aloud, especially with such insensitivity. They needed to stop into one soon, and this only further proved it.

"She's quite young. How long has she been apprenticed for?"

Kanda sunk back into silence.

"Not long?"

He didn't even bother with a glare to dissuade the impossible man.

"A month, maybe? ... Hello?"

A full ten minutes of quiet passed. The bunny had at some point dropped off the man's shoulder and returned to Baka's arms. All without him seeing it move, of course. It was still glaring at the man, and blood was still dripping from its teeth in a gory reminder of what further comments about the girl might unleash.

"You're not the social sort."

Kanda nearly groaned. He was starting again? Had he not learned his lesson?

"So how're you teaching her?"

Kanda rolled his eyes, and faced the man. "Why's it any of your business?"

"Just curiosity. It seems like it must be difficult."

Silence. Kanda attempted the silent treatment again.

It didn't work. "Kids her age tend to learn just from watching. It's like how they learn to walk and talk; simple observation. It also might be a good idea to pay her as much attention as you can. It's harder to remember things from when you were young than when you were closer to the age you're at now. The bigger impression your lessons make, the more she'll remember and take from it."

"I'm sure you're so wise in this area of expertise."

The man smiled. Then paused. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Negrynas. Anyway, I _am _a teacher of a sort." Continuing on with his mini speech like there had been no interruption, he said, "For the most part, teachers don't remain so much in the pupil's memory as what they learn from them does. Which, somewhat, is good, but more could be done."

If he threw him out the window, would he be arrested?

"Motivation is what pushes people to aspire and become more than what they are at the time, or to do the best they possibly can. When the student comes to the level of or surpasses their teacher, they usually don't think of themselves as being of that level in comparison to their teacher. To them, the teacher knows all. Especially in an occupation like yours where the student and teacher will never compete or do anything to prove who's more talented than the other."

...?

"When they remember their teachers while performing their work, the student ends up with a generalized series of thoughts while attempting their best: Would they do this better? How would my teacher go at this instead? If they walked up behind me now, would they be able to correct me? And the most common, Am I doing this well enough to give them pride or earn praise from them?"

What. The. _Hell_?

"Leaving an impression on the student isn't as hard as it seems. It's really just in the word 'impression'. If you impress them, they'll remember you better. In a roundabout way, doing the best you can will make them do the best they can as they improve and learn. How good she gets and can be all depends on you."

Any sort of verbal response just enticed him, so Kanda still remained silent.

Negrynas sighed, looking over at Baka. "I can only guess, but she looks like a good kid. I only hear snips about the Black Order, but it's got to be a dangerous job you two perform. Her life's basically in your hands. Not to put on pressure, but what you teach her is going to be what's keeping her alive."

Yes. He knew that. Did he think he cared?

Negrynas suddenly looked out the window in surprise. He glanced at his watch. "Oh my. Time flies, hm? End of my journey on this train's coming up next. It was nice to talk to you, Kanda."

His head snapped up. The next stop was his and Baka's, and they'd be reaching it as the sun started to set. It was still midday. And how did he know Kanda's name when he'd never mentioned it?

Negrynas continued, standing, not noticing Kanda's sudden unease and wariness. He nodded at Baka, and said, "Vyresnę seserį, miegoti gerai**."

With that, he turned, opened the door, and left.

Kanda frowned. That was the weirdest conversation (however one-sided it had been) that he had ever had. Who the hell was that guy? And why did he know them? His frown deepened. Next chance he got, he would ask Komui what the man had said and if Negrynas was even a name. He'd lived in England for years in the Order, and he'd never heard a name like that there or anywhere else for that matter.

An hour later, Baka gave a small yawn, and sat up, her legs swinging off Kanda. He didn't glance over at her, and Negrynas's voice about paying her attention suddenly flitted through his mind, putting him in an even worse mood. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Baka sense it and cock her head at him. She looked across at the seat. She frowned when she saw the impression of where someone had been sitting.

"Who was here?" she asked.

"Some idiot."

That struck a nerve.

She turned to face him, clearly irritated. "Negrynas was here, wasn't he?"

Kanda glanced at her, surprised. "Where do you know him from?"

Baka's eyes narrowed in more anger at the confirmation. "Long story. What did he tell you?" Her voice was laced with exasperation.

Kanda paused. "Something about teaching metho-"

Baka turned so she faced the opposite side of the train again. She clenched a tiny fist, glaring daggers at the ground, and growled, "That bastard."

Kanda raised an eyebrow. The other one went up when he saw the bunny giving the universal hand signal of anger/"piss off"/resentment/"go to hell". Despite how much corruption Lavi, Allen, and Linali seemed to think he was pouring into the kid, he had _not_ taught her that.

* * *

><p>*We spent about ten minutes debating what color skin he has. -.-' This good enough for you?<p>

**We'll tell you what he said later. Maybe next chapter. If we don't during that one, it'd be nice if you reminded us.

a/n: We're trying to keep this story as clad in mystery and suspicion as possible. One amazing reviewer, **I See Clearly,** has been telling us what they think is going on with whatever mischief we have planned (Thanks again!). It's helpful if you tell us what you think's going on. And, you know, reviews inspire us to write and not go on impromptu month-long hiatuses...

About Negrynas. Obviously, he is not a random character. He will appear much more, even if you don't notice him at first.


	6. Chapter 6

a/n: Again, sorry the last one was so late. We were waiting for Tsuki to read through and make her changes, but she was unable to because she was sick. Again. For the ... ... ... ... ... (still counting)... ... ... ... ... *a big number*th time.

_Hey, Tsuki radioing in. I can safely say that with the mass of stuff my doctors have me on—it could cover the _sun!—_plus the new diet, I am in the clear for editing/writing. We shouldn't have to go on any more hiatuses for awhile. Thanks for waiting._

We don't own anything in this story but Baka and the bunny. The bunny we literally own, as in its in our house. And it's _creepy._ Oh, and it follows Tsuki around, sleeps with her, and frequently sits on her head. Believe me. Not all of this was purely from our imagination.

* * *

><p>The two stepped off the train, earning distance from the other passengers as they also left. Kanda still had an aura of death and destruction to all those around him, and others wisely dodged around them. Baka was still glowering, to the surprise of the passengers who had seen her before boarding. The sullen trio walked away from the train station, heading for the inn the Order had supposedly rented. (Supposedly, as several times he had arrived to find that nobody had called ahead because apparently they had had 'too little time'.)<p>

Before now, they had managed to keep ahead of a storm. However, it had been close on their heels and the wind was faster than they were. Even as they walked to their inn, snow was starting to accumulate around their feet. A thin layer already dusted the ground. As it was the first snow, the warm ground wouldn't let the water stay frozen for long. Still, the puddles and slush could be just as bothersome.

Kanda had been in the town once before, and luckily remembered it well enough that he could lead them to the inn he had stayed at. Baka followed behind, keeping her eyes more on the sky than the ground. He waited for her to run into something or trip over a stray rock, but all the same glanced back occasionally to make sure she was even still there and not wandering aimlessly around.

It was a good thing he did. He glanced back once more to find her absent. Kanda halted, scanning the crowd. He gave an irritated sigh, mourning how far she had gone. He was probably going to have to track her across town.

Better to just get started now. He backtracked, scanning left and right. The girl was nowhere to be seen.

Back at the last corner he had remembered seeing her at, he hesitated. He let out another impatient sound, and started back the way he'd been heading towards the inn. He'd barely taken ten steps when he nearly collided with her. She was standing a bit off the sidewalk, looking up at the sky with contentment.

Kanda grabbed her arm and yanked her back onto the sidewalk as a buggy flew past. "Watch where you're going, kid," he said. She glanced at him, and then stuck her tongue out at the buggy. Kanda kept a closer eye on her this time.

Baka was still walking, but was now watching something over his shoulder. He glanced at it, and saw a building. It was a simple square brick design, and looked about as unapproachable as a rock. Or Kanda, for that matter. A small sign on the door listing opening and closing times also stated that it was a mental hospital. He glanced back at her again, and she was still looking at it, eyes narrowed in an expression he couldn't read. Calculation or speculation, maybe. Whatever the reason, he guessed the cause behind her interest wasn't good.

Kanda made it to the inn without losing Baka this time. The innkeeper pointed them towards a room and gave them the key. They pulled the limited baggage they had along as they walked to the room.

* * *

><p>Three hours later, with Baka sleeping soundly, and Kanda slipped outside to make a call to Komui. He was tired of playing games and jumping around answers.<p>

Komui answered quickly, and the audible sound of a pen being eagerly dropped came through the connection. "Hi Kanda! What's going on? Find anything?"

"I've got some questions."

Komui seemed only a bit surprised. "About Baka?"

"Is Negrynas even a name?" Kanda asked, already knowing the answer.

A few muttered words were exchanged before Komui replied, "No, our records don't have anyone with that name, first or last. It's a Lithuanian word, meaning 'impure'. Did you meet someone going by that name?"

"Yeah. Our last train was packed, and someone had to come into our cabin so everyone could fit. He was really annoying, and wouldn't stop talking about teaching or something before leaving, saying his stop was coming up. The train didn't stop, however, and I didn't see him get off the train later."

Komui grew concerned, and an edge entered his voice. "What did he look like?"

"Tall, dark haired, mahogany eyes, had a bookkeeper look. Said he was a teacher of a sort."

**You are so dead later.**

"Kanda, did he recognize Baka? Seem to know her? Show any interest?" Komui's voice had become stressed.

He ignored the question. "Who is he?"

"Did he know Baka?"

"_Who is he_?"

"I'm not sure, but if he is who I think he is, the next time he shows up you should be ready to defend your life and Baka's," Komui softly said. "Apart from the Millennium, that is the most dangerous being you will ever meet. He is on par with the Noah, if not stronger."

I think he's confusing me with you.

"We can't be sure though. We need more evidence. Please answer my earlier question."

"At first he seemed to know nothing about either of us, but by the end he clearly did. He asked how long she'd been training, and accurately guessed a month. Right before he left, he called me by name, and said something to Baka in a different language," Kanda responded.

"Do you remember what he said?"

"Something like... 'vryesn sesrij mego ger'."

A pause came from Komui's end, and he seemed to be conferring with someone for several minutes before he said, "Was it 'Vyresnę seserį, miegoti gerai'?"

"I guess."

Another pause. "Really?" he asked, surprised.

"I already told you that's what he said. What's it mean?"

"It's also in Lithuanian, and means, 'Older sister, sleep well'. Is there any other contact he had with her? Any signs of aggression or something?"

"He acted a lot like the damn Moyashi and Usagi."

"Huh. Not exactly what we were expecting of him. If you have any other contact with him or anyone who acts like him, let us know immediately."

For once, Komui seemed to be trying to get off the phone. Kanda narrowed his eyes. The supervisor was trying to avoid any more questions. Why? He cut right to the chase. "Who's Baka? Really?" Komui started to speak, but Kanda sliced through his response of saying she was a normal girl by snapping, "She is _not_ an innocent seven year old who has a stuffed bunny as Innocence. Not to mention you don't talk about Exorcists behind their backs nearly as much as you do with her."

The wince was audible even through the phone. "Baka... We're not so much worried about her, but her Innocence instead. There's a chance it was tainted by... well, by who Negrynas is looking to be. If so, it's a possibility her Innocence is a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off and turn against the Order and everyone in it. If that time comes, we don't know if Baka will be able to control it or if it will kill her."

**Are they making crap up on the spot or something?**

They're just trying to work with they have. Don't be rude.

**Oh, so they're on crack instead?**

They are not on... oh never mind.

"Is there anything else I should know about?" Kanda dryly asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Noise turning the corner into the alley. He gave a short wave of acknowledgement that Kanda didn't bother to return. Before Komui could respond, he asked, "Who is this person you think Negrynas is?"

"I don't know for sure. I've just been hearing rumors and guesses. No one can be sure. Any records of who he really was or what happened to him are long lost. All that we can find about him is a feared reputation." Reever's muffled voice told Komui to get back to work, and Kanda bit back a curse about bad timing. "Kanda, when your mission's done, report back to HQ immediately. We need to find out if we're right."

"Now would be a great time rather than later."

"Now isn't a possibility. The higher ups are aware, but they're pressing hard that you go on normally."

"Normally with-"

"We'll get to it as soon as we can. Has there been anything else?" Komui was definitely trying to halt the conversation.

"Is Baka in anyway affiliated with the Biperton Mental Institution?"

Komui paused, and asked, "What?"

"The Biperton Mental Institution. Does she have anything to do with it?"

Komui asked someone over the receiver something, and then said, "We're looking into it now, but because we don't know who she is, that might be hard to find out for sure. Any more news, call in." Komui's line shut off. Kanda snarled, and his gollum flapped worriedly in response to his emotions.

"He's doing his job as best he can and trying to keep everyone safe, Kanda. Don't get mad at him," Marie said calmly. "He called a few days ago and told me I would find you here. Daisya should meet us in a few towns or so."

"How much did you hear?" Kanda asked, not happy about having an extra listener.

"Since your description of the Negrynas character," Marie said. "What's going on with your apprentice?"

"Dunno." Kanda glanced up at the inn. "Whatever it is, I think she's knows."

"About what's going on?"

"Yeah."

"Then why hasn't she mentioned it before now?"

"She's seven. Maybe she thought we already knew, or that it was unimportant, or something else."

"What do you think we should do in the meantime? When Daisya gets here, should we let him know?"

"Yeah. If Negrynas comes back, he needs to know. Until then, we keep an eye out for him, Baka, and the rabbit."

"Lavi? I thought he was in Cross's group."

"No, the _rabbit_."

"... You mean Baka's Innocence?"

"Yes. Finally."

"Why?"

"You'll understand later."

"Okay... Doesn't 'baka' mean 'idiot' in Japanese?" Noise Marie asked.

"Despite common belief, it wasn't my fault," Kanda snapped.

"You're the only person I know who would be handing out Japanese swear words as names," the other Exorcist pointed out.

"I was trying to get someone else to name her. It didn't work."

"Obviously. And you haven't tried to change it?"

"She's not listening."

"Uh huh..." Kanda started to retort, but Marie said, "Tomorrow I need to go find the Finder who arrived here with me and tell him I found you. He's still by the train station, but I think he probably ended up rooming in one of the inns overlooking it. We can go ahead and head out of town afterwards if we have nothing else to do here."

* * *

><p>"Baka."<p>

She sat up almost robotically, and looked at him. "One of them arrived here already. He's sending off the Finder who came with him here. Come on." She slid off the bed, and padded after him to the door. She glanced up at him, and noted the dark bruises under his eyes of sleep deprivation. The bunny leaned over her shoulder, as if speaking to her.

She caught up to his fast pace by the door. Fog had risen from a nearby lake into the city, and in the early morning they were the only ones on the street apart from just a sprinkling of other pedestrians. He took them down the same way he had traveled yesterday to look for her. Kanda spared a glance towards the mental institution as they passed it, and then continued on without looking back. Baka instead watched it like it was about to follow her, and only averted her eyes once they had turned a corner.

They were two blocks from the train station when Kanda heard Baka gave a small cry of surprise. He whipped around, and saw a hand reaching out of an alley, clinging to her arm. She spun away, yanking her arm free. She dodged behind Kanda, who faced the unexpected man staggering from the narrow street. He didn't bother with words. The ragged stranger had clearly lost his marbles. His eyes were sunken and his hair was sparse. It looked like he hadn't eaten recently either. His clothes were ragged and torn, and he looked more like an escaped convict than a homeless man.

"Back off," Kanda growled, not even bothering with the usual round of questions of 'Who are you?' or 'What are you doing?'. He lifted one arm a bit behind himself, putting a barrier in between the man and Baka.

"We were just trying to make a living..." the man muttered, voice shaking. "But fire fire... death... we were stopped..." Kanda frowned, and subconsciously pushed the girl back a bit with his arm. "We just wanted to eat! But... demon... Yes! Demon... that's what it must have been... a demon..."

"Back off," Kanda repeated, reaching for Mugen. It would be a surer dissuader than his voice would be.

"Fire fire... Fire!" the man cried out. He stumbled forward a few more steps. Kanda's hand secured around Mugen's hilt, but he didn't want to gut someone on the street when he could just as easily knock him bloodlessly away. "The demon's fire... couldn't do anything..." He lurched forward, springing towards Baka. "Demon!*"

Kanda shoved Baka backward and drew his katana simultaneously. The blade slashed through the air in front of the man, and sheer reflex saved him from having his head chopped off. The man cowered backwards, slinking slowly into the alley again. Baka's grip was tight on his arm, but she peered over the barrier. The bunny rested on her shoulder, seeming to evaluate the situation.

"Oh my!"

A woman in a nurse outfit ran down the street, one hand in her pocket as if reaching for something. She slowed as she came closer to them, and held out a hand to the man, half-hidden in the shadows cast by the wall. "Tommy? Tommy, you need to return home. Do you want to come home with me? Take my hand, okay?" she asked soothingly. Kanda, guessing she was from the mental institution, didn't say anything, letting her do her job.

He gave a moan and grunt, shying away from her. After a few more seconds, however, he leaned forward, placing his hand almost shyly in hers. She spoke more calming words before sneaking a needle out of her pocket and quickly pricking his arm. He slumped harmlessly against the wall moments later.

"Can you run down to the institution and tell them we found Tommy Rice?" the woman asked.

Kanda wouldn't have even allowed that a response, but Baka tugged on his arm, and he wanted to know how she was related to the mental hospital, that, at this rate, he was going to have to check himself into.

* * *

><p>After alerting the mental hospital's front desk about their unconscious patient, he'd dropped Baka off with them and told her specifically to wait in one of the plastic chairs. Not that that would keep her from wandering around, but he hoped that the nurse at the desk would at least keep an eye on her. Now he waited for the doctor to return to brief him on Rice. He knew there was some link to Baka the not-so-innocent little girl and the mental patient. He hadn't noticed Kanda at all until he'd slashed Mugen in front of him.<p>

Finally, the door opened and the doctor appeared. He walked in, and, not bothering with pleasantries, said, "Why do you want to know about a patient of ours?"

"That's none of your business," Kanda was quick to respond.

The doctor, not bothering with his desk, just leaned on the edge of it in front of Kanda. A few feet in front of him, the Exorcist steadily watched him as he stood against the wall. "I'm not allowed to release information about a patient unless you've got a good reason to state for wanting to know. And it's a reason I need to hear if it exists."

Kanda growled softly, as he was unwilling to say that he didn't know what to do about his apprentice, but he really needed to know. If because of any reason, so much was being kept from him as of late it was frustrating, especially with his short patience for such things as it was. "We were the ones who ran into him shortly before you found him again."

The doctor nodded. "Yes. I know. Is there any other reason?"

Kanda narrowed his eyes before relenting. "He seemed to recognize my apprentice."

The doctor found interest in this. "He did? Did he acknowledge her or...?" He sat up a bit taller on his desk.

"He didn't notice me, but he tried to get to her again after she got her arm away. It was almost like he blamed her for whatever was wrong with him. However, I can't do anything about that because I don't know what he blames her for. As far as I can tell, she could be the cause, but I don't know her past."

The doctor rubbed his head and shook it. "She couldn't have done it. Mr. Rice has been in here for forty years. Does she look like her parents? He might have known them..."

"I've never seen them. I don't know if she's an orphan or not."

"Have you ever tried to ask her about her past? You said you didn't know anything about it."

"You've clearly never tried to talk to her before."

"One of those children? Hm. Well, knowing as little to begin with as you do, if you learn anything else will it even be of value?" the doctor pointed out. Kanda gave him an exasperated look. The doctor waved it off, correctly interpreting the meaning behind it. "Alright, sit tight. I'll be right back with the file."

True to his word, he returned a few minutes later, wordlessly handing an unlabeled file to Kanda. Each patient was assigned a number that only the staff knew, and their file would be placed in a slot with that number. Someone breaking in would have to scan each and every file to find what they were looking for. "If anyone questions you on where you got that, you got it from me, Dr. Harforth. You can't leave with it either."

"It'll stay here," Kanda amended. "I don't need to read through it multiple times or anything."

Harforth nodded, and left him to the file.

* * *

><p>*We'll tell you this about this... weird... guy: The demon he is referring to is not an Akuma, and not really a demon either. He's not making up the existence, but it's not a demon in the literal sense.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

a/n: Part of the way through this, we were watching Winnie the Pooh. I don't think Baka and Kanda will be watching that any time soon, but if you want a laugh try and picture it.

_Even better, try to picture Kanda as Piglet (you have to have watched the movie to understand in this case)…and then spit out whatever you're drinking/eating because this is laughable yet _true_ in a disturbing way. Don't understand? Watch _carefully_~. Muahahaha. *runs from Mugen*_

We don't own D. Gray-Man. Duh.

* * *

><p>Kanda handed Harforth the file back when he returned. "Find anything useful? I told you that she couldn't be the 'demon' though. He was running a massive drug operation that burned down forty years ago. I don't care if she's using anti-aging cream or whatever, she wasn't there."<p>

"What happened to everyone else involved?" Kanda inquired.

"Most of them died. Three survived of the two hundred, but all of them are hospitalized here. Whatever caused the place to go up, it wasn't just a mistake like the police on scene said. Someone or something was there that caused three people to lose their minds," Harforth grimly said.

"The file says the place burned down in Greece. How did they end up here?"

"The mental cases got on a train and made it up here without anyone noticing. They wanted away from wherever they started as fast as they could go. Since they were already up here, we took them in."

"Greece to Poland is a long way for three crazy people," Kanda commented doubtfully. The doctor's mood for helping him had done a 180.

"From what we've found out, it looks like something was covering their tracks. We only discovered who they were by accident because someone recognized their faces on a wanted list. The police had no idea where they'd vanished to, and couldn't pick up any traces. In their states, they should've left plenty of evidence for the police to follow. Something's not right with what happened. Do you still think that your apprentice is connected somehow?"

"There are several things that seem to be not right with her, and I'm already aware that she knows and has relations to people she can't possibly know."

The doctor gave a contemplative 'hm'. "To treat them, we need a better record of what happened. If your solution to your apprentice's mysteries helps it, I'll lend you a hand."

"Right. Now where the hell did my apprentice run off to?" The woman at the front desk had merely shrugged when he asked, pointed in a general direction, and returned to signing her name and dating the paper in front of her.

"Go check out Harry Copperfield*. The strange and baffling tend to end up near him. I don't think he's actually insane, but he ended up here because a bunch of people think he _is_ insane." Harforth gave him directions.

Kanda left the office, and followed them up a few flights of steps and down some hallways. He pushed the door open to the room, and immediately rubbed the bridge of his nose. The doctor had been right. Strange things were pulled towards the man. A cat was sitting on top of the man's back, triumphantly announcing reigning superiority in the room. A dog was standing a bit of a ways back from them, and Baka was sitting on his back, arms folded over his head with her chin resting on them so her head was right above his. The bunny was sitting behind her. A nurse was standing in there, exasperated.

She looked up at him and pointed at Baka. "She's yours?"

At that point Kanda didn't care what the 'yours' was supposed to mean. "Yeah," he simply said. "They allow pets in here?"

The nurse** snorted. "They followed him here. Try telling a mammoth it can't come in. It'll get in anyway. And the cat's a cat."

* * *

><p>Noise looked up as they approached. "What on earth could've happened to you between there and here?" he asked, taking in the level of Kanda's Pissed-Off meter. He didn't have to see to feel it. Baka's lighter footsteps padded alongside his.<p>

"An irritating amount, apparently," Kanda growled in response. "We've got nothing left to do here. Let's go."

Noise turned and directed them towards the train. They boarded, and settled down into the compartment. Marie turned as the other two started speaking again. He was a bit surprised they were there, as he had been told he would be meeting with two Exorcists and an apprentice, but their presence had gone unannounced. They had spoken about Kanda hadn't said anything about them either. There was something strange about them. He never heard them breath, and their heartbeats were nonexistent.

The silence remained unanimous until the two he'd heard talking started again.

**More trains. Hear my overflowing happiness. Not to mention the sarcasm as a side dish.**

What?

**Never mind.**

But-

**Just never mind, damn it.** There was a short pause, as if the speaker was rolling their eyes. **Seriously, can't we get somewhere with something to do?**

I think you have too much fun with your job.

_Shh!_

With that, the conversation ceased.

The voices had a strange ring to them. They had the same echo as one heard when the listener is on the other side of a wall. Noise turned in their direction, hoping they would explain their presence. Kanda had yet to say anything, and Baka's slowed breathing said she was probably unconscious.

On that note, the only exorcist who would have been able to hear the conversation that was about to take place went to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>You<em> idiots_,_a voice snarled.

We are very sorry, I assure you,another one said.

(Neither of us care if you're sorry. The point is, you both screwed up. If you both continue to cause problems, you can leave. And paying your rent once in a while would help our attitudes, mind you!) The latest voice was one that stated control, and would tolerate no nonsense in its presence. It had an underlying tone of anger to it, but the words were spoken in a matter-of-fact way.

Look, we'll try to keep our mouths shut. It's not our fault everything is becoming a disaster.

_Listen up, all of you. Things are not going off the deep end. We were not expecting the Fourteenth to be at the Order, no. This doesn't mean it hampers our ability to do our jobs. As long as we stay away from Allen Walker, the Noah shouldn't be able to learn of our existence. It shouldn't even be a problem if he does. What_will_be a problem is if any humans learn of what is occurring under their noses. This can be prevented if you don't continue speaking near someone who can hear you._

Alright. I am sorry for creating distress.

You're my source of distress as always and you never seem apologetic about it.

(I will come over there if you two don't quit it.)

What do you want us to do in the mean time? We can't do much with Noise Marie here when he can hear us.

(Yes, I know. ...) She was silent for a minute, so long that anyone else would've asked her if she was still awake. However, these people were used to waiting. They knew that she had gone through every possibility and covered many possible consequences of each one by the time she finally spoke. (Hmm... How long can you two stand each other?)

The other two voices paused, and if there had been corporeal appearances of them at that moment they would've been looking at each in contemplation. Then they both asked simultaneously, How long would we need to?

(That is what I am asking. A day, from past experiences, seems to be to be a good estimate.)

That doesn't sound far off, one of them dryly commented.

We can only get a day? the only male speaker asked, sounding discouraged.

(You two will go on a search every day, and circle us as we make our way towards wherever we go. Report back every night.)

Y'know, usually one would make this sound more like it were an option just for courtesy, even if they knew we would already be doing it. Just saying.

(This is your suspension for being fools.)

Ah...

(Ishtar**, does this suit you?)

_Yes. Although, if I could join you I would be happier,_ Ishtar said, muttering the words. _The measures we are taking must surely be overrating the obstacle._

(Whether or not it is, it is better to overrate than to underrate and be caught by surprise. Experience has told us as much. Many times.)

_I remember._

(When we were in Beijing is a good example. Or Angel Falls. Or Siberia. K2 would be the tallest mountain in the world right now if you hadn't underrated-)

_Yes, yes,_ Ishtar irritably said. _I said I remember!_

(You also tend to say things without meaning them, and not listening to the advice given to you.)

_Out of all the ones I could have been stuck with, I had to end up with the two that talked and the enemy._

Surely you don't regret our presence that much!

_Some days you make it very tempting. Rest, you need to move out in the morning._

One of them was not interested in doing such. What about the obstacle? The Fourteenth? What will we do about him?

(The Fourteenth is dormant right now. We do not need to worry about him too much.)

We did not come out of isolation to hide from somebody who is not a threat.

They all paused. The last voice waited for a response, the one to respond waited to see if he had anything to add, and the other three waited for a mauling to take place.

(Noah do not just decide to assist the Order. While it was not his intention, they usually would not provide help in any way whatsoever, even if it is involuntary. If his plan is not one that will be beneficial, then it will have been for the best when it turns out that we were not out in plain view. If it turns out to have been entirely innocent-pardon the pun-, then we will have nothing against us.)

Thevoice started to speak, but (the voice) answered the unspoken question. (I do not care about any complaints the Order may bring up if we do make contact with the heads. They would be nothing without us, and they had better admit it.)

The voices were silent for the rest of the night. There was nothing left for them to discuss.

I'm hungry.

A sigh. We'renot going to last the day.

* * *

><p>"Who were the two people talking yesterday?" Noise asked. "They don't seem to be here now."<p>

Kanda snapped his head around to look at him. "What? Who?"

"You didn't know them?"

"There was nobody there but Baka and I."

Marie frowned. "Kanda, there _were_ voices. They were commenting on what you and Komui were talking about, whether you heard them or not, and then in the train, one of them was bored. I thought you knew them and were just ignoring them. What made me ask is that I couldn't hear their heartbeats. I can't now either."

Kanda frowned.

"Down the street, next to the lamppost nearest the crossroads down there. Fairly tall. Recognize him?" Marie asked, interrupting the current conversation.

Kanda shot a glance to the mentioned place. "That's Barry. Where are the voices right now?"

"I don't know," Marie replied, a bit happy he was able to say that, since from Kanda's tone the two voices would be nonexistent if he had said 'Over there'. As it was, he gave an unsatisfied grunt instead of running off while brandishing his sword. "They haven't spoken since yesterday, and I can't hear their heartbeats to say where they are."

With a note of amusement, the thought ran through his head that he might not have. The little girl seemed to be taming him. He could now see why the generals agree to give him the apprentice. At the moment, she didn't appear to even be paying attention to the conversation, instead choosing to look at some posters they passed on building walls.

"Then why'd you bring it up?" Kanda snapped.

"I figured you want to know either way, considering they seemed to be talking to you and Komui when you called him. From what they said, they know something about the oddities you two were discussing."

Kanda frowned angrily.

They continued down the road they took, and Barry launched himself off the wall with his back and moved to join them. "Long time no see, you two."

"Could've been longer," Kanda immediately shot back.

"Someone needs to learn to live a little…"

"Don't start, please." Marie sighed.

Barry squatted down next to Baka. "So, you're his apprentice?"

Kanda paused in his stride, turning to watch. So long as it wasn't directed at him, watching Baka mentally shoot people was a great past time. It was almost like having a weapon against stupid people with him.

Baka stared Barry down within seconds.

"O…kay…" he drawled out. " You're apprentice is kind of creepy, you know that?"

"Tch," Kanda replied. "You haven't looked up yet."

Confused, Daisya glanced up without moving his head. Two red eyes stared back down at him, the very incarnation of a devil's. With a yelp, he jumped and tried to shake it off. Kanda rolled his eyes at the antics and moved on. Noise shrugged and followed, while Baka trailed behind them. The exorcist continued his attempts to shake off the rabbit, which clung ferociously on despite the lack of visible effort.

"Komui said that there was something going on here?" Marie asked when Daisya finally caught back up to them, aimlessly swatting at the air above his head.

He grunted. "Yeah, there's a bit of a problem going on, but I'm not really sure what. A Finder reported some strange things going around in this area, and they think it's an Akuma. I haven't been able to find one yet, but there have been some people disappearing so there's a likely chance that it _is_ an Akuma."

"Has there been any pattern?" Marie asked.

Daisya gestured at the posters Baka had taken interest in. "Yeah, there's been a circus going around the area. Doesn't stay long, but it returns soon enough. As far as I can tell, a lot of people disappear from the circus grounds."

"Not Akuma attacks…" Baka murmured, almost imperceptibly. Kanda was the only one standing close enough to hear it. Noise and Barry were discussing where the circus was now, and when the next attack should be.

"Why not?" Kanda asked. He hated it, but she did know things that she could have no way of knowing. But as far as he knew, she had never lied or bent the truth. The closest thing she had come to that had been the first twenty-four hours with her, when she had acted as an innocent little girl.

"If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck hunter pretending to be a duck or a platypus," she responded. "Ducks don't walk, they hop."

"So this is someone pretending to be an Akuma?" Kanda said slowly, trying to make sense of what Baka was getting at. "They're not all that well known outside of the Order. How would someone imitate it?"

Daisya had come within hearing, and snorted in disbelief. "I seriously doubt it. Where'd you get that idea from?"

Baka gave him a cool level stare, one that Marie could even hear through the silence. "Akuma don't have a sense of self-conservation, for the most part," she said. "That's why they tend to be quite destructive when they attack. They can wipe out whole towns, as they have demonstrated, and don't even run from Exorcists. Why would they be discrete about their killings here? There's no point to it."

"So you don't think these are Akuma killings?" Noise quietly asked.

"Oh come on," Daisya huffed. "I've been in this area for a month. I didn't waste all that time for any damn Akuma to not even _be_ here."

Baka gave him a look that clearly stated how much of an insolent twit she thought he was. She didn't speak, as if she knew that words were not required.

Daisya narrowed his eyes in response, while Kanda watched on with the faintest amusement. Barry opened his mouth to say something, and broke off with a sharp sound as the rabbit bit him again on the arm. He did his best to swat it off, and Marie gave a small chuckle as he failed yet again.

He continued, choosing to ignore the rabbit, "That's all you're going off of?"

"I can continue."

"We can go without that." To Kanda, he said, "Your apprentice is nuts."

Marie was about to intervene on the part of the girl, when, surprisingly, Kanda snorted, and said on behalf of his apprentice, "Devious and creepy, yes. Crazy, no. If so, I would've been able to dump her a long time ago." Baka seemed strangely satisfied with that statement.

Daisya muttered something inaudible under his breath, but didn't press the matter.

"So what do we do, either way?" Marie asked, bringing the conversation back into a safe area. "Whatever it is, we still need to stop it."

"Tch. We'll be leaving anyway. Let someone else deal with it."

The other two ignored Kanda, and Barry replied, "I guess we can split up and try to catch _the Akuma_. If it follows the pattern, it should attack any time soon, within the next two days."

"Like it gets hungry," Baka murmured pointedly.

Daisya looked ready to snap. "Akuma _can_ get hungry."

"The Millennium just simulates the feeling so they act more violent."

"Both of you!" Marie scolded, doing his best to hold them back without being physical. He sent a pleading look Kanda's direction, but the other Exorcist was shunning them all at the moment for ignoring him. "If you quarrel all the time, this team isn't going to work."

Daisya threw out both his arms in Kanda's direction. "He quarrels with everybody all the time!"

"He's behaving right now."

Kanda didn't respond, but Daisya looked exasperated by his sudden decision to become a dormant volcano.

"Weren't we going to start working?" Baka reminded, already past the conversation and obviously having absorbed almost nothing from it. She was, however, far from oblivious on the ways of manipulation, including praise. "You know this town and area better than any of us do now or will in a few hours of searching," she said to Barry. "Where should we go?"

The art of praising, however slight it may be done, has been used many times, and will always work in some way. He didn't reply with a smart remark, rather, "There are three main roads out of town, one going south-east, another east, and the other north-east. To the west are rugged hills, and they're a pain to get through. Most of the disappearances came from people in the open space between this town and three others, an area to the east of here."

"The best time to find the Akuma will be when it attacks. If we don't get it tonight, how long will we have to wait?" Marie asked. They were getting odd glances from people passing in the street, as they stood there in an oddly formed quartet. Pulling into the shadows of an alley some minutes ago had helped some, but they weren't all that inconspicuous.

"The intervals have been anywhere from a week to three."

"If we don't catch it on the next attack, we have to move on," Kanda said with no room for argument. "We have a more important mission to get to."

* * *

><p>*Hm, this sounds familiar to the Dresden Files, now doesn't it... If you want a funny mystery series, go check it out.<p>

**Just a nickname, she's not the actual goddess. (And we're ignoring the whole female fertility and sex parts. I mean, it was Mesopotamia and that area. Just ignore it.)

The names of the speakers in the different _**(ways)**_ was because, when you think about it, you don't say the name of whoever you are talking to all that often in a conversation. Yes, we might have also not wanted to mention their names period, but still.


	8. Chapter 8

a/n: Whew, we thought for a minute that this hadn't been updated in a month. Luckily, that was not the case.

We don't own D. Gray-Man, but we do own Baka and the rabbit and any other OCs. You cannot steal them. For they are ours. (Not to mention you don't know everything about them, so I don't know why you'd try to steal them. :P) _(The rabbit says **** off. We thought about naming him Kanda. Or Yuu.)_

* * *

><p>Marie, unanimously nominated the mediator without a single word spoken, divided them up into two pairs to search the area. To prevent friction, he went with Barry while the teacher and apprentice (who didn't seem to need much teaching) went a different route. One took the south-east side, and the other searched the opposite way. He hoped it would last, as he and Barry set out to the south-east side of town.<p>

Kanda led the way to the north-east road. Baka trailed behind, silent and daunting as ever, while the bunny somehow made it's way back to her without Daisya noticing. It clung on to the back of her neck, hitching a ride.

Half an hour later of blissful silence (something he _never_ would've gotten if he had been stuck with just about any other apprentice), Kanda happened to glance down at Baka and realized something. As he looked back up, he pondered about how he would go about that. He supposed he could just ask when he called in to tell Komui they had arrived. Kanda didn't mention it aloud, though. Baka either knew, or, as chances went, didn't care. Kanda doubted she really needed it, but it was helpful on occasions.

"Over there," she murmured. He glanced down, and saw her pointing at something in the distance. "The circus." Lights flickered around an outcropping of tents, and people moved about inside the perimeter, glimpses of their fleeting shadows nonetheless clear over the miles from where the Exorcists stood. They were far away enough that they couldn't hear any sound from it, but the aura of laughter and smiles was steadfastly maintained even from this distance. Kanda was immediately annoyed by it, and Baka indifferent as always.

He pointed past it to another spot on a road. "We're supposed to meet there with the other two and report any findings. This whole thing's a waste of time. Why the hell are we still here?"

"If everything worked and made sense, then this would probably be Hell," she said, keeping to her mystical comments. Kanda just made a grunt of acknowledgement, then continued walking on. Baka followed behind after pausing a moment to take a second glance at the distant circus.

"You said this wasn't an akuma. Then what is it?" Kanda asked in a tone that demanded an answer. He was done with all the secrets and mystical crap.

Baka told him.

Kanda's eyebrows raised slightly. "They probably weren't being fed enough." He seemed unworried, and he was, but still he rested his hand on his sword's hilt.

* * *

><p>"Hey, you guys find anything on your way?" Daisya asked as the quartet reconvened at the road. Kanda and Baka had gotten there first, waiting only a dozen minutes before the other two had arrived at the road. The two still hadn't seen anything. "We didn't see any akuma," he added, adamant in his belief about what was causing the anomaly. Baka ignored the last bit, also confident in her own opinion.<p>

"Nothing. Now can we leave?" Kanda snapped irritably.

Marie sighed. "It's the middle of the night, Kanda. We should at least wait for morning. I doubt there are any trains coming into the station that can take us on our way this late at night. While we're here, we might as well keep looking. Should we go back the opposite way, take a different route, and meet at the town in the same place we left at?"

Kanda glared, which was lost on the blind man, but the other picked up. Daisya rolled his eyes back.

"Are you two making faces at each other like immature children again?" Noise guessed. Kanda and Daisya immediately yelled a stream of curses, which only proved his innocent question true, even if he had originally only been joking about it. "Alright, alright already. So what are we doing?"

"Patrol again. Nothing else for us to really do unless we want to wait at the train station for a few more hours. I think it's not even morning yet," Barry pointed out. "Anyone else want to do something?"

"This is a waste of time," Kanda snapped, and the other angry person gave a sigh of exasperation.

Re-taking his role of mediation, Noise asked, "Baka, what do you think we should do?"

Kanda looked down at her, and then turned when she wasn't there. Barry glanced around too, becoming confused. "Where the hell did your damn apprentice run off to?" he snapped. "We're wasting even more time now! Hey, kid! Get back here!"

Kanda turned around fully, and glimpsed his apprentice's back. She was standing perfectly still, staring at something. He let out a small hiss, and slowly started to slide Mugen out of his sheath. Marie tilted his head, hearing another heartbeat. A thudding sound was coming closer and closer to them. Baka hadn't moved yet.

Out of the darkness, something was running to them. It was big, and some sort of animal. Even though he had assumed already that she was, any doubts of Baka being wrong had now vanished. She had put the facts together before the rest of them had. The regular intervals between the killings, the movement of the killings around the circus, and the distance from town it always retained.

The sleek feline body came into their clear view faster than almost seemed possible. The tawny yellow coat, the massive collar of fur around its neck, and its sheer size were the clear tell-tale signs before it got any closer about what it was. Kanda had Mugen unsheathed the second it came into clear view, and he guessed the others behind him had their weapons ready too.

The lion padded to a slower pace some fifty yards away, and let out a roar. Kanda remembered hearing somewhere (probably during an unfortunate mission with Lavi) that lion roars could be heard miles away, and he could definitely believe that from the volume at which this one sounded. It growled, and stalked in a circle around them, looking over the four of them with gleaming eyes.

"No," Baka said, loud enough to be clearly heard, but quietly and firmly enough to halt the three sudden steps forward near the lion. "It won't attack," she added when they all looked at her incredulously. "There's four of us and one of it."

"It looks hungry enough anyway to me," Barry shot back, hopping impatiently, ready to kick the musical soccer ball. He kept his eyes on the lion as it continued circling and surveying them. Finally, it came to a stop in front of Baka. It had decreased the distance during its circle, and was now standing ten yards away. The lion's muscles were coiled, ready to pounce at a second's notice.

Kanda gripped his sword tighter. Despite what Baka had said, he had to agree. The lion _did_ look like it was still going to attack. It was looking at her, most likely because she was the smallest and youngest of the group. Baka, however, was staring right back at it. Kanda moved to the side slightly to get a better angle on the lion, because right now Baka looked she was just as ready to stop the lion as she was to halt the procession of the three behind her.

The lion took a hesitant step forward. It slunk forward over the ground another step, teeth still bared. Kanda took a step forward at the same time Baka took a longer one, staying ahead of him. She gave him a look, and then turned her attention back to the lion. It stepped forward again, body low to the ground. It was less than a pounce away by now. It and Baka were less than four feet away from each other. A sideways glance over his shoulder showed that the other two were just as tense and ready to move as he was.

And then the unexpected happened. Baka took another step forward confidently, and fell almost flat on her face. She folded her arms in front of her, and landed on her stomach, looking serenely up at the lion, almost like someone would lay and look up at trees swaying overhead. The lion looked down at her... and flopped down. Its head went down onto its paws, and the two stared at each other.

Baka placed both hands on top of the lion's muzzle, and then leaned forward and kissed it between the eyes. She moved back again, but simply put her hands down onto its paws. They continued laying like that for another moment while the girl's gaping comrades stared at them.

Kanda's mouth, which was not nearly as wide open as the other two's (Marie could tell what was happening from where sounds came from and what sounds they were), snapped abruptly shut as he noticed the rabbit sitting on the lion's head, in between its ears. Kanda shot a glare at it, and the bunny continued smiling easily.

Daisya looked like he was going to say something. He tried three times before saying, "Well. I can't say I was expecting that."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they both laying on the ground opposite each other?" No one corrected him. "Ah. I thought I heard wrong."

"So... there really was no akuma?" Barry said. "It was the lion." Baka nodded, and rubbed the lion's head. Kanda thought to himself that, since she wasn't a normal kid, of course she couldn't have normal stuffed animals. No, she had to have _real_ lions. "I guess we should contact Komui then and tell him we're moving out from here and that we found out the problem... Damn, what are we supposed to do about it _now_? We're Exorcists, not animal control."

The lion looked at him as if he knew what he was saying. Daisya pointedly looked elsewhere.

Kanda quirked an eyebrow at the pair. "Hey, you realize you can't take a lion back to the Order, right? Or on the train, for that matter." When Baka didn't respond, he said to the other two, "I'll call Komui. Figure something out about this."

"Why can't either of us call Komui?" Barry snapped, since he had no clue what to do.

"Because I have something to ask him," Kanda shot back. He left the pair debating ideas, while Baka clambered onto the lion's back. Kanda sighed, hoping they wouldn't go chasing deer or something. She visibly bounced up and down, holding on to the lion's mane.

When he was of a distance away that he couldn't be overheard, he asked the gollum to contact Komui's office. The science crew had finally figured out a way to create the gollums so that they didn't require a phone to hook up to, thankfully.* It took a few minutes for the connection to come through, but that was the only problem with it. The phone connected, and Komui's cheerful coffee-filled voice came on. "Hello! Who's this?" He leaned away from the phone, and said, "Yes, I'm working! Somebody called! Yes, somebody! I don't have a clue who it is."

"Quit screwing around," Kanda snapped.

"Oh, crap, it's Kanda," Komui said, still leaning away. There was a pause, and then Komui said, "Erm, did that come through?"

"Yes. We met up with Barry at the town."

"Wonderful. Found the akuma yet?"

Kanda paused, and looked back over his shoulder at Baka and the 'akuma'. At some point, Baka had slid off, and was now sitting on the ground. The lion was standing over her, licking her head as if she were a cub. Kanda felt an intense migraine coming on. "Sort of," he said, his migraine coming through into his words.

"Uh oh. What happened? Is this going to add to my paperwork?" Komui asked, his voice becoming more serious.

"It wasn't an akuma."

"Oh." The voice lightened. "I didn't think so. What was it?"

"You sent us out here even when you didn't think it was an akuma?" Kanda yelled through the phone. He muttered several more angry words and curses.

"Well, it just so happened to be in between all your paths, and this way I didn't have to send a Finder. Well, at least you figured it out. What did you say it was again?"

A voice came right beside him. Laying on the back of the lion, Baka looked up at him with big eyes. "Can we keep him?"

Sheer will kept his head from exploding. "No you cannot! I already said why not!"

"Keep what?" Komui asked innocently.

"The damn lion!"

A long pause came from the other end. "...What?"

"A nearby circus apparently didn't secure one of its lions up well enough, and it's been romping around out here. It probably killed people it came across on the road. It doesn't look like it was fed well," Kanda said irritably. He glanced down, to find that Baka and the lion had wandered off again. "Where did those damn two go..." he muttered, looking around. They had mysteriously vanished, and he rolled his eyes.

"Um, and she wants to _keep_ the lion?" Komui asked.

"Yeah. Apparently she's got it tamed."

"... What." It wasn't a question, just a deadpanned and confused statement.

"She's riding around on it, and a few moments ago I think it was trying to clean her."

"Oh my. That's quite interesting."

"Yeah, yeah, now what do we do about it?"

"I think you four can figure it out."

"Baka's here. If you don't give us some answer that suits her, we'll have a lion following us all the way to Tiedoll."

"Ah. Let me think on it." Komui fell silent again, and then called, "Hey, Reever! If there were a hypothetical lion that has been seemingly tamed following one of our Exorcists around, would they let it in?"

"Don't encourage her!"

Reever sighed with exasperation, and walked closer to the phone. "What? I don't know. The Asian Branch might. They're kinda strange over there. But then, I guess most of the branches are. Probably not, though. Why?"

"Well, what if it were Bunny-chan?" Komui said tentatively.

Reever seemed to be gaping through the silence. "Um... I guess that would be okay..."

Kanda buried his face in one fist. "What about 'Don't encourage her' do you not understand? We don't need a lion following us around from place to place! It'll just hinder our progress!"

"Or it might help," Komui said, but heard the death threat coming from Kanda's silence, and trailed off. He coughed a few moments later, and said, "Ahem, uh, we'll think on it and let you know if we come up with anything. Was there something else that you needed to ask about, or...?"

"Yeah. Baka's uniform," Kanda said, bringing up what had occurred to him on the walk. "Is it made?"

"We've been thinking about what to do about it. It should take another half month to make it. Might be more, might be less."

"Can it get to the Asian Branch before we near the area so we can pick it up?" Kanda asked, but it didn't sound like a question.

"Sure. Probably. Maybe." As if remembering that Kanda was already not happy with him, he said, "I mean, of course it'll be there. I'll ask if Bak-chan can get on it and have his science team get it done before you get there." Another voice shouted out something that sounded like a reminder to Komui. "Oh, yeah! If you all are feeling up to it, we have some towns we need you to hit. A few have one or two akuma floating in the area, but we've got two in particular that are swarming. One's a week away and completely flooded. The entire town's dead. I'll give you the towns if you are going to pass through the area and want to take care of them."

"I didn't get to do anything this time," Barry said, popping up over Kanda's shoulder with Noise behind him, "and I want to do some slaying. Where are they?"

Komui gave them a list of places, and made notes by the ones that he had mentioned were overwhelmed or in bad condition. "Let us know if you figure anything out about what to do with the lion, and we'll ke- Hey! Reever, don't hurt my beautiful creation! Komulin!" The feed ended, if somewhat violently.

"What'd he say?" Marie asked. "Any suggestions about the lion?"

Kanda's grunt was not a happy one.

"Ah, that kind of suggestion then. Anything else?"

"We're going to make a stop by the Asian Branch," Kanda stated, not bothering to ask whether the others even wanted to come. "Other than the towns, that was it."

Daisya frowned. "Why the Branch? We don't have to check in or anything, do we? That'd be kinda stupid when we've got-"

Kanda rode over his voice, and said, "We need to pick up Baka's uniform. It should be finished by the time we get there. Did either of you notice where those two ran off to?"

Daisya and Marie gave him guilty looks.

Kanda muttered another curse, and started the search for his missing apprentice and the furry pet she had somehow laid claim to. Marie and Barry joined him in looking, following the swearing that floated on the breeze.

* * *

><p>* It was too damn inconvenient. I gave up on the phones. If you notice, the gollums (apart from Tim) all have to hook up to a telephone so the Exorcists can talk to whoever's on the other end.<p>

We thought up the lion thing, and had to stick it in. It was too cute to leave out. _Really, there was no choice. None at all. And this came straight off our heads with no outside influence whatsoever. *_glances at orange kittens* _None at all._


	9. Chapter 9

a/n: Are you wondering about the lion? ^.^ Of course you are. To be serious, there _IS_ a reason behind the lion, and it does make sense that she got along with it. We might forget to mention it because it was an after-effect of something else, so you might need to remind us.

_That, and it returned to it's rightful owners: Sekai and myself. We're training it to eat annoying brats *cough* I mean..._

* * *

><p>Baka came back on her own, bunny sitting happily on her head. The lion disappeared into the night and, from what little they could discern of Baka's explanation, it wouldn't be returning to the circus. How she knew that, she wouldn't tell, nor would she tell how she had tamed it. Kanda didn't press the matter, Daisya went to avoiding her, and Noise seemed to be making an attempt at repressing the memory altogether. The girl and her rabbit were completely unfazed, and life went on.<p>

The next morning, only a few hours after they 'sorted out' the lion incident, they caught the first train out of the city. The star of the event-the lion himself-left before the sun rose, and Kanda only glimpsed him once as the train was leaving the station. The tawny coat paused for a moment to stare after the train, an almost mournful sigh on what should have been an expressionless face, before bounding away into the depths of the early morning's shadows.

On the train, Daisya fell asleep almost as soon as Baka did. Noise had his eyes closed, but it appeared that he was meditating, not sleeping. Kanda wasn't tired, content to watch the scenery go by. The next town wasn't one of the ones Komui had mentioned, and they had a four hour ride until then. Once there they would debark, wait twenty minutes, and hop on the next train. That one would take them into the vicinity of their first destination, but they would still have to walk over to the town. Unanimously (with the exception of Baka, who didn't care either way), the group agreed that they couldn't hit every town, and picked out the areas of greatest importance (by Komui's reckoning). There were the three that Komui had mentioned were 'swarming', and between those towns there were some that would have to be traveled through either way. By the end, they should reached Tiedoll's last reported position, or would be a couple train stops away at the very least.

Kanda again felt the annoyance of having to be on _Tiedoll's_ team, but with a small hint of amusement remembered that it could have been worse. He could have, for example, been put in Cross's group. That team was going to have to span across two or three continents before finding him, after which he would ditch them, and result in a meaningless repeat of the whole cycle. To top it off, they had to convince him to come back to the Order. Which, he considered, was probably why Komui had sacrificed the existence of his life for their expedition (a.k.a. Linali).

It wasn't like being on this team would be a walk in the park, though. Tiedoll was going to go nuts when he learned Baka was with the group. To make things worse, he would pester him about teaching methods and whatnot. And of course they would have to tell him about the lion and the other strange things that had been popping up around the girl, which he would doubtlessly be interested in and proceed to wonder why they hadn't brought the tiger along for him to paint. So although it could get worse, it was still pretty bad.

He hated to even think about asking, but there was a slight chance Tiedoll could know what was up with Baka. No girl her age Kanda had ever seen was that silent, creepy, and...well, off. She knew more than _Bookman_. She knew something about what was going on with Negrynas. How could she, though? It was obviously a deeply kept secret within the Order, and Kanda had been there longer than just about anyone. Hell, he was one of the 'deeply kept secrets'. How had she come across the information?

It had something to do with her Innocence. He could think of no Innocence with more free will than hers, except maybe Cloud's. But the general seemed to exert some sort of control over hers, while Baka acted more on the side of 'The hell with i;, go do whatever you want'. Was she even in control of it? That was a worrisome thought for a number of reasons.

Because the Innocence was alive in a number of ways, he thought Tiedoll might know what was going on with it. As a general, he had a lot of experience with the Order and Innocence. It was likely he could know, and, among the other more inclined-to-keep-secrets generals, very likely that he would be apt to share.

That wouldn't make asking any easier.

The train pulled to a stop at the station, and Marie woke up immediately. Kanda reached out and kicked Daisya. Baka simply opened her eyes, as if she had been awake the whole time.

The quartet debarked from the train. They were in the middle of nowhere*, and had to set off down a dusty dirt road to reach their destination. It took them an hour and a half to reach it, and Baka took the entire trip in stride. Once, she stopped, but that was to peer at a bumblebee flying overhead. The bee landed on her nose, and the two evaluated each other. She won, and it flew off. Entirely content with the world, she skipped after the three who had not stopped in fear that she might be more inclined to do something increasingly strange.

When they arrived, it was easy to tell that this was one of the towns that Komui had marked as being in critical danger. There weren't many people left in or around the town, and those who were looked to be in the process of fleeing. It was starting to fall into ruin, and the tallest buildings were like Swiss cheese as a result from Akuma attacks. Walls were falling down, and some roads and alleys were impossible to navigate with the sheer amount of rubble that now cluttered them.

"Damn," Barry muttered. "If this place were intact, it would look almost like my home town. Except mine had a view of the ocean, and here you've got trees. A lot of trees and grass. Not exactly a beautiful ocean scene."

Marie shrugged, but Kanda didn't seem to have heard him. "When did Komui say the remainder of the townspeople would get out?"

Marie gestured for him to keep his voice down, as they were entering the heart of the town, where people were gathering. "Today at noon. That's in about two hours. They're going to leave for a neighboring town to take refuge until we can clear the Akuma out."

Kanda grunted in reply. Baka eyed a couple standing outside their house. They looked desolate and lost, and the woman was crying onto the man's shoulder, who could do nothing but pat her on the back.

"Maybe we should duct tape Kanda's mouth before it's too late..." Daisya muttered. Kanda glared at him. "Hey, they don't exactly need your attitude here."

"And they don't need a fight," Noise pointedly said before Kanda could speak. "Don't start, you two. Before now, they've been attacked by small groups of Akuma, but Komui said there's a mass heading this way. It should arrive sometime during the night. We need to know the area by then."

"Split up," Kanda said.

Daisya nodded. "Let's find landmarks we can use later. Meet back here at eleven?"

No one said anything aloud, but there was a silent agreement. Kanda walked down a nearby road without a word, and Baka padded after him. Marie went a different way, as did Barry.

Baka took the dark atmosphere relatively well. She didn't seem to be affected by it, but Kanda did see her sit down on the road's curb by a smaller child, and comfort him for a few moments by murmuring something. Seconds later she stood and joined Kanda again.

Even if he didn't want to, it was looking more and more like he was going to have to ask what was going on. That was definitely a last resort, though.

At the confirmed time, the Exorcists met back up. "There are two churches in town," Daisya reported, "that I saw, anyway. Ones on the far east side in the regular Gothic** style. It's got a hole in one wall. There's another one closer to the center of town that's a bit smaller with an open steeple where you can see the bell inside."

"The city's laid out in grids," Marie said, further explaining the layout. "We can use that to find places to meet."

"On the north side there's an open bazaar for food. Takes up about three blocks," Kanda said. "It's easy to find, and if you're standing in it you can be seen from just about anywhere. However, it's hard to see anything on the outskirts. The area has bad lighting and the buildings are packed together."

Some more possible places were mentioned and pointed out. Baka paid them next to no attention, instead staring at the nearby grouping of townspeople. They had pulled together their most valued possessions, and were bringing as much food and water as they could to ensure they would get to the next town alive and healthy.

"Kanda, can you get anything else from a top view?" Daisya asked, gesturing to the roofs of the building.

"Probably." He glanced over at Baka, who was still spacing out. "And for the love of crap, don't let her get run over by a carriage." Then he was gone, jumping from a window ledge to the roof. A teenage boy wedged tightly inside the group of townspeople blinked, surprised.

"It's going to take him a while," Marie said. "The town's pretty large with unevenly sized buildings." He found a nearby bench, and took a seat. Barry huffed, and fell onto it beside him. Baka didn't move, still staring at the townspeople. "If she gets run over, we're going to get murdered by him, aren't we?" he commented.

"Or he'll congratulate us," Barry muttered under his breath. He looked over into the crowd. The morose weavings of a guitar's tune filtered through the clout of people.

With a completely straight face, the other replied, "No, because then she would come back to life and kill either us or him."

Barry shrugged, and nodded in agreement. "Speaking of whom, is it just me, or does he seem to actually get a long better with her than anyone else, and vice versa?"

"Probably because they don't annoy each other."

"That's one way to think about it." He looked at where Baka was, and then over to the townspeople. "I wish they didn't have to leave. It's not fair for them," he quietly said.

"When this happens, it's never fair," Noise agreed.

Baka turned, and looked at the two for a moment, surveying them. Then, to their complete bewilderment, she walked over to the people. A nearby woman looked down and asked her something, to which she replied.

Then Baka disappeared into the crowd.

"Oh crap," Daisya muttered under his breath. "Not good."

"If she doesn't reappear in a few minutes, we'll go after her," Noise promised.

A minute passed, and then the unexpected happened. Both of the Exorcist's jaws fell open.

* * *

><p>Kanda dropped back in on them twenty minutes later, ticked off. "Waste of time. There wasn't anything else to report." He glanced around. "Where the hell did she run off to <em>now<em>?" he demanded, his temper not improving in the slightest.

Wordlessly, Daisya pointed to where the crowd had been before.

"What the hell did she do?"

Marie gave the most honest answer anyone could. "She brought out the sun."

Kanda looked up at the cloudy sky, where the yellow star was nowhere in view. "What?"

"The theoretical one," Daisya added, rolling his eyes.

Kanda shot him a death glare, and it was a miracle there was a body left on that bench. He turned to the square.

Most of the town's remaining children were having the time of their lives, dancing their little hearts out. The musician had perked up considerably, and was playing a jovial tune. Some teenagers happily lead the on-the-spot dance, being teenagers. The elderly stayed to the outskirts of the group, moving slowly but with enthusiasm. Couples moved in among the dance, several with their parents or children.

Baka flitted through all this, clearly the cause of it. She danced with the bright spirit only a child possesses, the one that makes any spectators involuntarily smile and that brightens anyone's day. By simply dancing over to the musician and saying something, he laughed in amusement and contentment before she went on her way again. She went back to the remaining group of the standing crowd who watched the proceedings, and pulled in the couple the Exorcists had seen outside their home earlier. The two looked at each other, shrugged lightheartedly, and joined the festivities.

"That's something she sure as hell didn't get from you," Daisya deadpanned. It was Kanda's turn to roll his eyes. "Imagine when we tell Tiedoll about this."

"Breathe a word and you're dead."

"Heard and acknowledged." Barry shot him a teasing look. "Afraid that you'll never hear the end of your apprentice being a regular beam of manipulative joy?" Another glare pierced him. "I guess so."

"They've got another ten minutes until they go," Noise said as Kanda stepped toward the dancers. "Let her keep it up." Kanda didn't respond other than to stop. He walked over to the building behind the bench Noise and Barry were sitting on, and leaned against it, watching his apprentice finally act as he would've originally expected her to.

Someone else struck up a flute as the crowd started to fill out into neighboring streets. To his surprise, a random teen pulled Daisya in, and he vanished into the crowd moments later. Kanda gave a dry sound like a vaguely humored grunt, casing the crowd, but not necessarily for his vanished 'teammate'.

He caught a glance of Baka, as she leaned forward with an outward smile. Her hand was outstretched, and she disappeared behind someone else for a moment. She pulled another young girl in, one that didn't appear to have relatives nearby, who smiled back. Baka vanished into the crowd, but the teenager she had just tugged in joined the dance, and showed herself to be a good dancer, moving smoothly to the music.

Kanda frowned. There was something off with the teen. He recognized her from somewhere. Yet at the same time, he was positive he had never met her before in his life. She was smiling, and that seemed to be throwing off where he knew her from too. He continued staring, trying to figure it out.

Daisya noticed it after a few minutes. "Who're you watching? I can't see your apprentice anymore..." Even as he said that, he trailed off. He got dragged in to the dance, a little startled, by three kids. He disappeared like Baka had in the crowd.

"And there goes the rest of our group..." Marie stated. "Who were you watching?"

Kanda explained his predicament to the blind man, who pondered it thoughtfully.

Marie finally said, "Well, if it's been long enough, you might have known her when she was younger, but it couldn't have been that long ago if that were the case... so you probably would've met her when she was twelve or thirteen or fourteen if she's changed that much you don't recognize her instantly."

Kanda thought about it. "I still don't have a freaking clue." Marie shrugged. He was out of ideas.

He scanned the crowd, looking for something different than a name. Where the _hell_ was his apprentice? "Baka's gone. If they leave like this, will you be able to pick her out of the crowd?"

Marie nodded. "Yeah. I kept an ear out for her in case she got lost or something. She's right there." He pointed in to the crowd. Kanda followed the trajectory. Then he looked again. He measured out the angle for a third time. A fourth. A fifth. Then he realized he really was looking in the right place. "See her?"

Kanda looked at the teenage dancer.

"I see her."

* * *

><p><em>*...and thus relatively close to the home of Tsuki and Sekai, which was only seventeen nothings northwest of their location...<em>

**For anyone who doesn't know a lot about architecture, this isn't talking about the dark clothes and skulls and whatever people associate with the word 'goth'. It's a style from the medieval ages.


	10. Chapter 10

_a/n: I am the fearsome Tsuki. Fear me. And all the diseases I could unintentionally inflict upon you..._

* * *

><p>The crowd dispersed, and Daisya and Baka were allowed by the flow of the crowd to return to the rest of the Exorcist group. The crowd picked up their stuff, and, looking at the clock, set off and left the town for a safer haven than their homes. They left in significantly raised moods, some still humming or singing, others with an extra skip in their step. A few younger kids waved at the Exorcists as they ran by, not understanding the meaning behind their presence. All they knew was that they were going on a trip. Daisya gave a hesitant wave back.<p>

One ran by, paused, and then ran back. None of them noticed until Baka was hugged tightly from behind. The other two still didn't see the boy, but Kanda saw Baka's stunned expression. He held on for another moment, then ran off again. She turned around and looked over her shoulder at the running child, still surprised. Kanda didn't say anything, letting her puzzle it out.

She'd left him to do that enough times that he deserved a little revenge.

As the last stragglers departed from the square, Marie turned to the other three. "For the attack, we should probably split up. We can attack smaller groups at a time. If we just make a forward assault, we'll get run to the ground."

Kanda and Daisya didn't take well to any suggestion they could be defeated, but neither pushed the point.

Daisya added, "We could all take a different quadrant."

Marie cocked his head slightly at Baka, who had obviously noticed the gesture and even more obviously didn't care. She was back to her characteristic blank look.

Before they could differ the point, Kanda said, "Baka and I will oversee half of the city." Marie started to push it, and he added, "We've got it." Marie kept any doubts to himself and out of his expression, the latter of which Daisya didn't have the grace to do. Kanda shot him a glare.

"Who's taking which sections, then?" Marie asked. No one said anything. He shrugged. "Then just go back to the areas you searched earlier. That way you'll already know the area. ... I...can't think of anything else."

Daisya waved a hand over his shoulder as he turned and walked away. "I'm gone, then. Don't die, any of you. That'd be disappointing as hell."

Kanda gave a "tch" and walked away. Baka went after him. Marie waited a moment, listening to them depart. Then he looked over at the skyline, listening over the miles for any sounds of approaching akuma. Hearing nothing within the immediate area, he returned to his own quadrant.

* * *

><p>"You've fought before. How much?" Kanda asked as the sun set. He and Baka were just waiting for the fireworks to start at this point, standing in the middle of the main street and watching the direction the akuma were supposed to come from. His golem was beating its wings over his shoulder. The rabbit was being strangely nonviolent and annoying, as it had been for the last few days. Something weird was going on with it, but he couldn't figure out what. It'd be easier if Komui would tell him what he knew, but of course that would be too easy. No, he was left to pry the information out of Baka himself.<p>

After a few seconds, she replied simply, "I've fought."

"Yeah. How much?"

She didn't even deign to answer this time.

After a minute, he said, "You don't have a uniform yet, so you have to stay off the front lines until you get one. If you get killed under my watch... I'm not going to particularly care, but it'll cause all sorts of hell when I get back."

She seemed oddly pleased with that statement. "Dying would be embarrassing."

He decided talking should end right about now. Unless...maybe...she could weird-out the akuma to death? Was that even possible? If it was, she'd figure it out. Right after the rabbit sucked out their brains and ate them with its eggs for breakfast.

A cloud appeared, darkening and moving closer. To someone not expecting it as something else, it could've appeared to be a storm cloud. Kanda rested his hand near Mugen, anticipating the battle.

Five minutes later, the cloud was directly overhead. Kanda thought it was a strange that they hadn't descended yet...until it started dumping water on them. Unamused, he looked for another 'cloud'. Another one was coming behind the first, but this one had lightning coming from it. Getting more irritated, he moved under an overhang. Looking around, he saw Baka wasn't with him. A glance into the street verified that she was laying on the road, tongue sticking out, catching the rain as it fell.

At times, she certainly did act her age.

He looked back out for a third cloud. Nothing popped out to him, but his vision was now limited by the rain and puffy dark clouds. Marie would be the only one of them who would be able to tell exactly when the akuma were descending.

Baka sat up suddenly in the street. Her head shot around, looking in a seemingly random direction. Something about the intensity with which she focused on that direction made him turn his attention there as well.

Then the akuma descended.

Later, he would never remember what he said, but he yelled something out to Baka in plain view in the middle of the road. For the second time that day, she was engulfed in a crowd. This time, it wasn't the amiable, dancing sort.

Mugen came out, half covered in light. Kanda lunged out, katana already cutting through a nearby akuma. He moved through the mass, knowing it was the stupid thing to do but doing so anyway. Two akuma did the smart thing he should have done, and left for somewhere else. He continued cutting through, looking for the center of the road.

There were no bursts of light anywhere in the mass. There were no flurries of action in any particular area where someone was giving a fight.

A full minute of fighting and pushing his way through and the remaining group scattered, taking flight or simply running down alleys into different streets. The akuma were after civilians, easy food, not Exorcists a.k.a. food that stuck you in the mouth with something sharp when you tried to eat them.

There was a limp stuffed bunny laying in the road. There was nothing else.

He walked a few steps toward it, then picked it up. It was the same color, the same stitching. But it wasn't the same bunny. The smile had lost its sarcastic smirk, and its eyes weren't burning with fiery mischief. It was a regular stuffed rabbit, albeit one that could have used a good wash. He looked up, to the main group of akuma that had taken off into the air.

The bunny dropped from his hand as he leaped up into the air.

Across town, Daisya saw him take the jump into the air. He didn't particularly know or care why on first look, assuming Kanda was just being brash as always and going after the main group. But on a second note, he realized if Kanda was up in the air, Baka couldn't follow him. He knew that. Although she had been a pain in the butt, Daisya hoped she was alright.

As he continued through the air, Kanda glanced back down at the ground, making sure none of the akuma who had taken off on foot had simply taken her with them. He didn't see any... but he didn't see the bunny either.

It was strange, if he thought about it. The bunny moved because of the Innocence. But when he had picked it up... it looked like it had been completely devoid of all life. Had Baka really died? But if so, then how had the bunny moved?

He landed on an akuma, and shot another glance back down. There was someone, human sized, walking in the same area they had been at. They were holding something in their hand, about the size of a toy. But then whatever it was fell through, like sand, to the ground. The person took off a hat, twirled it, and put it back on their head.

Kanda frowned.

That was weird.

The akuma below him was starting to catch on to his presence, and started squirming underneath him. Before it became too much of a problem, he ran Mugen through it, and then moved on to more akuma in the surrounding area. All the while, he looked for a sign of his apprentice.

* * *

><p>Daisya grinned, bouncing his soccer ball Innocence on the ground, satisfied. Another akuma down, loads more to go.<p>

Someone stepped out of a nearby alley. Daisya glanced over, smile fading. He was positive everyone had left. No, he _knew_ everyone had left. He and the other three were the only ones left in town, and there was no reason for any of the townspeople to return.

"Are you Daisya Barry?" the man asked. He was wearing a top hat, and had gloves on both hands.

Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong with this man. His Innocence seemed to be glowing, _urging_ him to kill the man.

But he was human, right?

And what was the harm in answering?

"Yeah..." he said.

The man smiled. And it wasn't a good smile. He stepped forward.

That was when Daisya knew he was a Noah. He hissed, and lashed out with his Innocence, planning to attack and then make a break for it. The others needed to know there was a Noah in the area. If there was one, there could be more.

But the second his foot hit the ball, the Noah was already there, standing beside him. A hand plunged into his stomach. He could _feel_ it in there, which was the most disturbing part. He could feel the Noah's hand against his organs.

"Did you know that Noah can destroy Innocence?"

Hell.

Daisya gritted his teeth, expecting to see one of his longer intestines hanging in front of his face any moment now. The Noah was definitely enjoying being in this much control.

And then she came.

The Noah was just as surprised as he was, if not more so. A woman, mid twenties, exotic, long softly curled brown hair, and definitely not a stay-at-home mom, came flying down the street, barreling in to the Noah. He fell onto his back a few yards away, but she wasn't done. A beam of light flew towards the Noah from her hand, and he narrowly dodged it. He sank into the ground, and appeared behind her. But before Daisya could warn her she knew, and without turning shot a beam through the Noah's stomach. He jerked back, falling into a wall and disappearing again. She knew, however. She knew. Daisya didn't know who she was, but there was one thing anyone could tell.

She knew the battlefield. The battlefield knew her. And in any case, the battlefield would choose her as its lover over any other in the world.

The woman was gone before Daisya could say or ask anything, running after the Noah as he passed through the buildings and ground. Occasionally he appeared, only to duck back down to avoid being decapitated. They disappeared from view, continuing their strange dance.

Silence.

There was nothing.

Hesitantly, Daisya recovered his Innocence from where he had kicked it. He set out to destroy some more akuma, keeping this incident firmly in his mind. This was definitely going to be brought back up again in the near future. He wanted to know who the hell had just saved his life.

* * *

><p>Kanda was forced to land back down again, angry. He still hadn't found any sign of Baka, and a small voice in his head said he wouldn't. He must have taken out at least a hundred akuma already, all of them in his search for his apprentice. Of all the times for her to get lost, she had to do it <em>now<em>?

He had to at least find her remains, if there were any left. She had five people back at the Order who would want that for closure. The thought occurred to him that there would be no argument like usual about telling the family about her death. She had none that they knew of.

His golem buzzed and Marie's voice came through. "I'm completely overrun here."

Daisya agreed. "Careful, all of you. We're not the only ones here. I ran across two others, one enemy, one... I don't know, but she wasn't trying to kill me."

"Who were they?" Kanda asked.

"Noah and someone else. She was beating him up, though. Made him run within minutes. I think he just might've been surprised, though. Sure surprised me when she came out of nowhere and started whaling on him."

"Meet back up at the church in the north. If there's a Noah around, we'll stand a better chance in one group. Anyone injured?"

"I'm fine," Daisya said, "surprisingly."

"Kanda? You and Baka?"

"..."

"... Kanda?"

"...I'm fine."

Daisya muttered something that sounded like, "Oh crap." He knew where Kanda's hesitation was coming from.

Reluctantly, Marie asked, "And Baka?"

He hesitated a moment. "I can't find her."

Haltingly, Daisya said, "Well, with that rabbit of hers, she's probably fine."

"She dropped her Innocence. I think someone picked it up, but I'm not sure. If they did, they dropped it."

Daisya cursed. "When they dropped it, did it look destroyed?"

"Yeah, which is why I'm not sure."

"The Noah told me Noahs can destroy Innocence."

"The person I saw had a hat-"

"-and so did the one I ran across," Daisya finished Kanda's sentence. "Look, let's just meet back at the church. Just because the Innocence's gone doesn't mean she is too. I wouldn't be surprised if she were playing mind games and making the akuma blow up."

Somehow, Kanda could actually picture that. But he didn't mention that the Innocence had looked dead even before the Noah had picked it up.

He jumped up, and hit a nearby roof. He landed running, and jumped again over the next building to land on the one after minutes into heading towards the church, and he skidded to a stop. He glanced down at someone walking on the street.

"You!"

Negrynas looked up, and immediately seemed to recognize he was in a really bad position. He made some sort of sound, and bolted. Kanda took up pursuit, and Negrynas fled. The akuma bolted, obviously knowing his life depended on how fast he could run.

Kanda kept at it, ignoring his golem as the other two tried to contact him. Negrynas was going down _now,_ damn it!

They reached the outskirts of town, and Kanda continued chasing him in to the woods. They ran among the trees and shrubs for a few more minutes, until Negrynas disappeared from sight. Kanda, already pissed off with people disappearing on him today, kept up pursuit, and looked into the trees. It paid off, as Negrynas almost fell out of one, and managed some sort of handstand as he tried not to topple on to the ground. He panicked as he saw Kanda heading his way, however, and looped his legs around another branch, trying to pull himself up.

Kanda was faster. He grabbed Negrynas's wrist even as he started coming up, and yanked down harshly. Negrynas yelped. _This_ was the dangerous akuma Komui had been edging around this entire time? He'd been joking, right?

Negrynas tried diplomacy. "Look, I know things are not... looking good right now, but-"

"I had to listen to you for four damn hours in a train ride. Stop talking, and _die_."

That prospect didn't please the akuma.

"Where did you learn the term agreement from? It means consent from both sides. You've only got one side right n-"

"Shut _up."_

"You're in a really foul mood, you know." Kanda's grip on his wrist tightened. Negrynas was coming out of that damn tree. The akuma picked up on something. "Oh, you're upset about the kid-"

"Shut up!"

"It's not nearly as bad as it seems-"

"I said shut up!"

"No, really-"

"Shut your damn mouth!"

"I'm sorry about any misunderstanding-"

"_Misunderstanding_?"

"Ah, yes. She's really not that bad off."

"You and the rest snatched her!"

"Um, they snatched her. And she's fine. Really, perfectly. Breathing and happy and...well, not happy. But y'know. None the worse for wear. You'd never know she'd been temporarily misplaced. But you're going to have to let my wrist go-"

"No way in hell until you tell me where the hell she is _right now_."

"Er, I don't know."

Mugen went up, its tip dangerously close to Negrynas's throat.

Negrynas edged away from it the best he could. "Um, Kanda-can I call you Kanda?-"

"I don't want to hear anything from you unless you're telling me where she is."

"Oh."

Kanda gave him a warning look.

"Five seconds, and then you're going to have to make do without your damn head. Five. Four."

"Can we talk about this?"

"Three."

"I don't know where she is!"

"Two."

"Seriously!"

"One-"

"She's over there," another voice said. Kanda looked over his shoulder, and saw the same woman that Daisya had. She had obviously been doing some fighting, and was pointing back to the town. "We dropped her off with the other two Exorcists. Negrynas, scat. Unfortunately your head will survive another day intact." The wrist slipped out of Kanda's grip even as he made another snatch for it. Negrynas was gone. He whipped around to angrily face the woman, who folded her arms in an I'm-too-busy-to-deal-with-this-shit pose. "Honestly, she's back at the church. Now, I've got some more akuma ass to kick." With that, she walked back into the trees.

"Hey!"

She didn't turn back around.

"_Hey_!"

The woman looked back, frowning.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

She shrugged. "A lot. If you ever see me again when we're not in the middle of a fight, ask me then if you still haven't been told or haven't figured it out. Then I might tell you. And if you catch Negrynas again you can weasel it out of him pretty easily too. But as of right now, we both have better things to be doing than arguing over this."

Then she was gone too.

Kanda stood there for a moment.

"What the _hell_?"


	11. Chapter 11

Kanda dropped in on the rest of the group in the church. Daisya gestured to the smallest of the trio. "We found your apprentice!"

"No shit," Kanda snapped.

"Not now, you two," Marie sighed. An argument in the middle of this fight was the last thing they needed. "Kanda, why didn't you respond? We thought you'd gotten killed."

Under his breath, Daisya muttered, "Unfortunately that wasn't the case." Marie kicked him in the leg to get him to shut up. Baka, as ever, wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention, instead choosing to look up at the rafters. She didn't seem to be paying them much attention either, but it's where she was directed.

"Ran across Negrynas."

Marie frowned, and Daisya paused. Baka took obvious notice of that, even though she didn't look at Kanda. Out of all of them, Daisya seemed to find the most worry in this new character entering the fight in town. His concern wasn't something that needed much thought.

"A Noah, Negrynas, and a strange woman who's kicking people's ass all running around town, and we have no clue what the meaning behind any of their appearances are. Oh, and we don't have a clue what's going on because Komui refuses to share." Daisya was rivaling Kanda in pissed-off expressions now. Kanda was still trumping, especially at that moment.

"With all of them running around in one place, if we ask now we have a likely chance of getting a response," Marie pointed out. "If you want to know and wouldn't mind pausing the fight for a few moments so we can figure it out…" He glanced at Baka. "And we're going to have to ask about what to do with Baka if her Innocence was just destroyed."

Damn. He hadn't thought about that. Where _would_ she go? They could send her back to the village he found her at, he supposed, but what would be the purpose? No one in town had known her. Would the Order just let her stay there so she could go grow up and get killed as a Finder?

But Baka had a different solution. "It's not destroyed."

The other three looked at her.

Daisya, obviously terrible with children, hesitantly said, "Baka, Kanda saw the Noah destroy something, and we couldn't find the bunny. He destroyed it. There's nothing else he would have the need to do that to in this town."

She shook her head. "He just destroyed the catalyst. Didn't know it was empty." She murmured something that sounded like, "They're too smart to get destroyed so easily. Tragic they're too smart."

"_They_?" Daisya demanded with exasperation.

Marie looked at Kanda, silently asking him to explain it to Baka that there was no way the Innocence wasn't gone. Even if it were outside of its container, they'd have to search the entire town to figure out where it had gone off to if the Noah hadn't found it already. That wasn't time they could waste. Kanda looked back, irritated that Marie couldn't see his look of 'What the hell am I supposed to tell her?' It wasn't like the kid listened to anything anyone said. Just because he was her teacher didn't mean she felt the need to listen to him.

Daisya's eyes suddenly widened. He knew how Baka knew her Innocence was in place. "Kanda, when did you see the bunny get destroyed? Before or after I was attacked by the Noah?"

"Before."

To Baka, he asked, "Your Innocence materialized out of its catalyst. It was the woman. She shot beams of light out of her hands. Lasers."

Baka looked at him for a moment, and then smirked. Daisya blinked in surprise at the odd expression coming from the seven year old girl. "You're getting close," she said, voice a little strange. "But no, that wasn't my Innocence."

Marie picked up on her phrasing. "Not 'your' Innocence. Who's?"

Baka's voice took on a light teasing attitude. She knew she was just feeding them pieces to a puzzle they didn't have the border to yet. "She has no accommodator." She looked away, back towards the church's rafters. She was done talking.

The adults looked at each other. That was the most they'd ever gotten out of her, and they suspected it was the most they would for a long while now.

Marie spoke quietly to Kanda. "Kanda, please stay here and watch her. We'll let you know what Komui says. Frankly, she's less likely to run off on your watch." Kanda didn't look happy, but he didn't disagree. He had some questions for Baka that would be best unheard just yet by the other two. And God forbid he have to ask them with Tiedoll around.

With that, Marie and Daisya walked off to a corner of the church, and entered a door into another section. The door closed behind them, and the apprentice and mentor were left alone.

"Baka, how old are you?"

Baka's smile returned, but she didn't say anything.

"You're not seven years old."

She took up that phrasing, unable to resist. Kanda hated word games, but he had figured out that everything, all of this mystery… she was doing it for fun. She enjoyed playing with them. But correcting them when they were close let her enjoy the game even more, knowing they were catching on but didn't yet know everything.* "It depends on your point of reference."

He raps her lightly on the head. "Don't use big words."

The smirk hadn't faded yet. Oh, she was definitely getting off on this. And the worst part was, the only thing that had tipped Kanda off was her change in demeanor, for the innocent little silent girl to the creepy sarcastic smart… something. Girl? Teenager? Was she even _human_, he sarcastically added in his mind to the list of possibilities?

"You're not seven years old."

"I'm not seven years old."

"You're not a teenager either."

"Could be."

He decided to drop the age thing. It was definitely a major factor in whatever was going on, though. But she wasn't going to give up her secrets just yet. No, she was still the cat toying with the mouse, and it was going to be a while before the cat hacked up the hairball and spit it on to the victim. Something occurred to Kanda. "Negrynas isn't trying to kill you."

"In a sense he is."

"In a sense?"

"My patience has certainly taken a toll."

"But he's not trying to cause you bodily harm."

"No."

"And you didn't mention this before, why?" If she could claim Negrynas was trying to kill her by maiming her patience, there was no reason he couldn't claim _she_ was trying to kill _him._ Although, to be honest, he had a sneaking suspicion his patience may actually have grown. That was a horrifying thought.

"It didn't matter, and none of you would believe me. I suspect when they talk to Komui, they still won't believe he's not after me. And I can understand why, but even that's not true."

"Why?"

She paused, looking away again. This time she was looking at one of the stain glass windows, or the remains of ones. They had been blown out far before Kanda had gotten there, and the glass was still scattered around the ground. They had been avoiding the windows because of that and because the akuma would be able to see them more easily if they stood close to the windows.

A stuffed rabbit was sitting on the edge of one, perfectly happy and content. It had a sarcastic grin, and its eyes were gleaming with mischief.

Kanda had a sudden feeling of déjà vu when Baka walked, stepping daintily over the glass, to pick up the rabbit and set it on top of her head. It didn't take long to remember where it came from. The first time he had found her the rabbit had appeared in windows. To find the girl he had followed it. Now, to find it he had to follow her, at least with his eyes.

Then, for yet another time that day, something occurred to him.

That damn rabbit _still_ wasn't dead!

* * *

><p>Daisya and Marie looked at the golem, waiting for its other end to answer. Finally, Komui clicked on, answering with a cheerful call. However, there was something off, and it sounded forced, and not slightly. "What brings you to call? Did you miss me? Or do you want to know how close Tiedoll is to you-"<p>

"No," Daisya said, as impatient with Komui as Kanda was, "this is about Baka and Negrynas."

Komui's mood plummeted. "Oh." He grew serious and his voice turned urgent. "Is Negrynas there?"

"Kanda ran across him," Marie put in.

Komui didn't speak for a moment. "That's not good. Did he kill him… but you said he just ran across him, so I presume not."

"No, he didn't. Or at least, he didn't say he did, and that's something he would've mentioned. But he's not the only person here," Daisya said, and then again recounted his encounter with the strange woman and the Noah. Komui's line gave out an even grimmer silence that increased with every word Daisya said.

He was silent for a while. "Daisya, Marie… Twelve Finders have been killed as of right now, and four Exorcists are dead. The Innocence of each was destroyed. They're been missing organs, and we can't find out how they disappeared. But now your testimony makes this situation different. You just missed death's door, Daisya." His expression said he was abundantly aware of that. Marie could tell that no matter how much he was hiding it, his comrade was still frazzled by the brush with the Noah.

"Right," he quietly replied. Louder, he asked, "We want to know what Negrynas's presence means here. And we _have_ to know."

Komui didn't argue. "I'm going to have to send in a request to give away that information, but under the circumstances I don't think it'll be long for them to come back with an affirmative. By the way, the woman could be important to. I think I know who she is. But could you give me a better description? Not physical attributes, but how she acted."

"She knew," Daisya said simply. "That's the only way I could think of it when she was fighting him and that's all I can think of now. She just knew where the Noah was going to show up and she knew what he would do and what she had to do to fight back. This was a dance that she's done before. It was almost like this was just the choreography to a show, and the only one who knew the moves was her. She just…knew."

Komui murmured a thanks, and then left briefly to do something, presumably to send the request. He came back after a minute, and asked, "You said there was something about Baka in this too, or was it just Negrynas that made you mention her?"

Marie took this bit. "The Noah mentioned he could destroy Innocence to Daisya. We all had split up into quadrants of the city, and Kanda and Baka were waiting in theirs for the akuma to come. When they did, Baka disappeared in the fray, but dropped her Innocence. Kanda tried to go after her, and said that the bunny had looked dead, so he had thought she might be too. But when he was going after the main hoard, he saw someone pick up the rabbit and then drop it like it was sand going through their hand, so he assumed her Innocence had been destroyed once Daisya told him what the Noah had said. We did too. But Baka, who had gotten dropped off at our rendezvous by someone-they dropped her off outside and we didn't see who, and she didn't tell-said that it was still intact. She said her Innocence hadn't been inside the bunny. But she did say that the person who attacked the Noah was Innocence, but it wasn't hers, and it had no accommodator."

Komui had another silence. "Where is she now?"

"She's with Kanda in another part of the church. We thought she'd be less likely to run out from under him," Marie explained.

"Yes…" In murmurs, Komui exchanged words with Reever, who had walked in. He walked back out of the office Komui was in, judging from his footsteps. "Okay, I got the approval to let you in on Negrynas and Ohreina. She's the Innocence you mentioned. Now, this story goes back to the creation of akuma and Innocence. We thought it was just myth or legend, to be honest. It was a story that had gotten passed down through tribes, and we caught wind of it. Some things in it had ties to our Order, so we thought it could be related, but because we had never met Negrynas, Ohreina, or the third, Akathartos, we assumed they were just legends that had branched off from the real thing. Just stories the tribes had made up."

Daisya got impatient. "And the 'legend' is…?"

"Innocence was originally just one mass, not the various separate pieces we have now. This first mass had a conscious. It knew what it was. This was Ohreina. But it also knew it couldn't be controlled in its state, so it split. This second piece was Akathartos. It too had a conscious. They both continued dividing, splitting off little pieces of themselves to make Innocence. Some pieces were larger or stronger than the others, which is why there are variations in how well accommodators can synchronize and how strong the Innocence is. Ohreina and Akathartos were the strongest by far of any. They were the only ones with a state of being that were strong enough to actually communicate. They could talk and move, materialize fully without need of something or someone to hold them. They didn't need an accommodator to control them and use them as weapons. Both could fight on their own. Ohreina was by far the brasher of the two. She respected the accommodators and what they would do, but she felt no need for one. She regularly went out, searching for the Millennium, trying to kill him before he could create his Noah and his akuma to fight his war. ** Akathartos, knowing the other had that covered on her own, went after the akuma that the Millennium was testing out. He wanted to be prepared for the next time he tried to end the lives of humans, and wanted it figured out before he left. Legend says she died fighting the first two level fours at the same time. They were supposedly destroyed as well.

"Now, there's a reason why there aren't many extremely strong akuma out there. The first akuma the Millennium made was a mistake. It was flawed for the Millennium's purposes. He made it too strong to start off with as well. It was on par with his Noah. It also had free will. However, it was destructive, and the akuma had no issue with killing humans. This akuma was called Negrynas. He and Ohreina met when Ohreina was searching for the Millennium, who sent Negrynas to take her out. Ohreina, the legend says, has the ability to control the rest of the Innocence. She can rally them and lead them to battle, maybe even better than their accommodators can. That's why he wanted her gone. The two clashed, and… well, the Sahara desert was the aftermath. They completely destroyed the area, and each other.

"Or so the legend says."

Komui paused. Then he continued.

"However, there's another version to the story. This is kept a high secret, because if it's true, it could very well mean the end of the Order. The other version is that Ohreina, who is extremely protective of the other Innocence, hated that they would have to be used as weapons. She and Akathartos couldn't control all the bits, however, and had to let them go. Still, both resented the accommodators. They traveled together, trying to find a way around them, and trying to convince the Innocence to come back together and just fight as one or two beings. Remember that Ohreina, although she was a part, was not every bit of Innocence. She was just one part, as was Akathartos. They couldn't convince the Innocence. They began to resent the humans because of this. On the same field of battle, they met Negrynas.

"But instead of destroying each other, they did something else. They made a pact, forming the Triumviri***, a group that influences the war between both sides, but does it from behind the curtain. And if the legend is really true, they were on the side of the Millennium. Yes, Ohreina did save Daisya's life, but we're pretty sure Negrynas is trying to kill Baka. Also, Negrynas was never fond of the Noah. He thought the Millennium gave them too much power, and that they were unnecessary." The story was over. "If this is really the case, that the Triumviri are still alive and strong, and are really working together… If they're working with the Millennium, things just got a whole lot worse."

"But Negrynas met Kanda and didn't try to kill him," Marie pointed out.

Daisya shook his head. "He could've just been trying to see if Baka was the heart or not." He grimaced. "If so, I really hope she's right, that the Innocence wasn't destroyed." He paused. "Wait. By the description I've heard of the heart...wouldn't that be Ohreina? And if not, Akathartos?"

"No. The heart was all of them when they were combined. It stayed with Ohreina, yes, but it split off. Ohreina is, in a way, the guardian of the Innocence. She will never destroy a piece, but she will kill the Exorcists as long as it doesn't hurt the Innocence. Daisya, you got really lucky."

He looked like he was a little too aware of that.

"In the mean time, we need to figure out what's wrong with the Triumviri. That they haven't attacked you yet makes me worried that there's some plot we don't know about yet."

"They can't be on our side?" Marie asked.

Komui managed to shake his head through the phone. "No, most likely not. If they were, why wouldn't they have come out before now? It's not like we're all that hard to find. No, chances are that they're against us. If they're working with us, that's some of the best news I've heard yet about this entire war."

None of them spoke for a moment.

"And this was classified, why?" Daisya dryly asked.

"Because if everyone knew there were two possible pieces of Innocence running renegade and against us, there would be definite panic. Which is why you're going to have to keep this quiet," Komui replied. "Ohreina can lead the Innocence if she wants to. She's sort of like their parent because they all came from her. Which means that any Exorcist who has it in their body is in danger around her, and Exorcists like Kanda who have sharp Innocence that could be persuaded to turn slightly a different way and, say, stab their accommodator, are also in danger around her. The rest of you too, just less so."

"So, where does Akathartos fit into all of this?" Marie asked. "We haven't seen hide nor hair of her."

All of them stopped.

"Wait."

Daisya and Marie exchanged glances.

"No way."

Komui coughed awkwardly. "I don't know if that's possible, but I really hope not. I'd prefer not to have lion Innocence running all over the place. It's not still following you, is it?"

"I don't think so… I hope not…" Daisya replied. "Um, let's hope that wasn't Akathartos."

Komui coughed again. "Erm, Akathartos was said to have died. Either way, she's the least seen. She dropped off the map some thousand years ago, and it was supposed that she was killed in battle against someone. But I assure you, there's a lot of tales in history about her, even if you hear it by a different way. Generally, she goes out with a massive fight destroying some foe just as strong or stronger than her. And she never dies alone. Her opponent goes with her. Hopefully we just have the two to deal with, although they don't get along well. That could be an exploited disadvantage."

"Definitely going to have to let Kanda in on this…" Marie muttered.

"He'd rip our heads off if we didn't," Daisya pointed out. "Okay, so what's with Baka's Innocence? If it's the heart, could it really be strong enough to come out of its catalyst to survive and protect its Exorcist?"

"Could be. How would we know?"

Daisya rolled his eyes. "That's helpful."

Again, Komui managed to do something through the phone thought impossible. This time, it was a shrug.

Daisya frowned. "Wait. Earlier, you said that some people were dead. What happened?"

Komui became uncomfortable. "We don't know. Not yet. But it's looking like…like we have a mole. Someone gave information away. And we're tracking down who that person could be right now. So far, there's nothing, but… There are people dying, and it's not just because they're running across stray akuma and aren't prepared for it. Something's wrong."

"What's being done?" Marie asked, also uncomfortable. "And who's gone?"

"All of Zokaro's team was killed. Twelve Finders in Europe and Asia on top of that. We're using the process of elimination right now to find out who it was. As of right now, we've taken out your team, by the way. You would have no idea where some of the people were, because you weren't in good contact with HQ. So far, your team's and Cross's look like they're in the safest positions, because no one knows where the hell they're at right now, and you four were in such lax communication that we couldn't pinpoint your location either. Other than the Triumviri, you should be in the clear. I never thought I'd say this, but try to call as little as possible until this has settled down. We'll only contact you in the case of an emergency or if the killings have stopped."

"We'll alert Tiedoll to the situation," Marie quietly said, "but Komui, the Noah's already here. We don't know if he was chased off or not."

"Yeah," Komui sighed. "Get out of there now. I know there's still a bunch of akuma and we wanted to wipe them out before they moved somewhere else, but right now you all are more important. If you leave early and can lose the Noah, it's worth it. Get going."

Marie started to agree, but Daisya cut in. "Wait. Is there anything else on the same level of the Triumviri that we should be knowing about now?"

"That's it. Other than that, there's nothing I can think of that's majorly important. If something comes up, I'll tell you, but we'll have to turn off the tracking on the golems. We've done that bit already for most of the others. Good luck, all of you." The sudden static was haunting

* * *

><p>*Y'know, this sounds like the two of us playing with all of you, doesn't it… ^.^ I'd say sorry, but I don't like to lie when it's not necessary.<p>

**I didn't even realize this, but doesn't that sound a bit like Sarah Conner from the _Terminator_ series?

***A Triumviri is a group lead by three people, usually with some imbalance of power among them. If you're just talking about one, drop the last 'i'.


	12. Chapter 12

_:P Maturity. We don't believe in it. Neither does The Bunny From Hell. (No, that's not his name. He prefers to remain anonymous. However, if you see a teenager with some geeky shirt on and a stuffed rabbit looking ominously down at you with a smirk, that's probably him.)_

* * *

><p>Kanda glanced over at the sound of the opening door. Marie and Daisya walked out, looking grim. That couldn't be good news, unless it was for their silence, maybe. The pair came over, and Marie spoke up first. "We've got news of both sorts..." he started. "Komui told us what was going on with Negrynas and the woman, Ohreina."<p>

Daisya recounted the story Komui had told them. On a hunch, Kanda shot a look at Baka at the end. She was staring at the rafters once more, but this time it looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh. She was out of Daisya's line of sight, behind him and Marie. Kanda looked back to Daisya as he finished the story.

"So the bad news is, we could have one or two piece pieces of murderous Innocence after us with a deranged and extremely strong akuma ready to join the party. But we won't have to deal with any Noah, because Negrynas hates Noah."

Baka, still behind Daisya, nodded, giving in and admitting to no one in particular that they had gotten something right.

"There's more bad news to go with it. It's looking like there's a mole in the Order."

Baka stopped being sarcastic. She and Kanda both watched Daisya and Marie like raptors. Moles were never good unless they were on your side or of the hole-digging variety, in which case they were simply irksome. Kanda noticed that they both had suddenly become even more serious and distressed.

Marie reluctantly picked it up. "Twelve Finders have been killed and... Zokaro's team was completely wiped out." Kanda's eyebrows rose. "All of them were killed the same way. Some vital organ was missing. We're guessing it was this Noah that we were just able to avoid tonight. But because it's here, Komui's advising that we leave now."

"The area's still flooded with akuma," Baka added, not happy with the suggestion.

Marie nodded. "That's what we know too, but Komui said at this point our lives are more important than taking out these akuma. If we don't survive, we can't kill them and more later. This Noah or Triumviri will kill us before we can if we don't get out now."

Kanda looked less than pleased as well.

"Bull sh-" He glanced at Baka. Despite the seriousness of the situation, his pause gave Daisya an amused smirk. "We're running away?" Kanda demanded, leaving out what he had originally been going to say. Daisya's smirk faded at that point.

"Kanda, we have to-"

"The hell we do!"

Marie glanced at Daisya, who looked back. Marie excelled at sending them telepathic messages through looks, but sending them back was a flaw. And this was an advantage that he regularly played on whenever he needed someone to do something for him, like now. He started walking slowly away from Daisya and Baka, and Kanda was forced to walk with him.

Meanwhile, Daisya noticed the rabbit sitting on Baka's shoulder. "Wait, where'd that come from? I thought it was destroyed."

"The original was. Remade."

She cleared up no confusion whatsoever.

Out of their line of hearing, Marie started talking to Kanda about a matter that Baka would definitely take offense to. "Look, it's not about keeping the rest of us safe. Between the three of us, I don't doubt we would've been able to hold up a fort somewhere in town and make it through, but you've got your apprentice here too. She's still new to this, and she already avoided getting killed once today. In fact, so did Daisya. Next time, I don't think someone's going to get lucky. We're already running on borrowed time. Someone's not going to leave town if we don't go now, and chances are it's going to be the youngest and least experienced. I know you always say you don't care if someone gets killed, and whether that's true or not, remember this. She's under your care right now, and the only person who knows what's going on with all this right now is her. If you still want answers, you need her to stay alive. I don't agree with your theorizing, but from your perspective, would you agree with that?"

Kanda's mood created a rift in the valley floor it had dropped to from the previous cliff above it, and fell into this new rift, dropping to new depths.

"Kanda, we have to leave now. We can fight this battle again some other time."

Kanda grimaced. But he wasn't disagreeing.

* * *

><p>Baka took his place. She seemed to be just as angry that they were leaving a swarm behind and fleeing, but she also recognized that they weren't going to change their minds. If even Kanda had agreed, there was no turning it back. The other two were bad enough on their own, but Kanda's will was a force of nature. This didn't mean she had to be happy about the decision.<p>

They climbed a nearby mountain, sticking to the woods. It would be harder for anyone to spot them that way. When any akuma came near, they were immediately obliterated by one of them. Other than that, they simply stuck to climbing.

All were in good shape, and Baka kept up a surprising pace with the rest of them despite the steep sides. They were at the top of the mountain by the end of the hour, about to start to walk down. They took a moment to figure out where they were and where the best place to head would be. Tiedoll was only a few towns away, to their unanimous dismay, and they decided the best way would be to just head straight there. There was supposedly a town right in between them. They could rely on Black Order funds, and hopefully Komui would realize they would have to seal the records of where money was being used to prevent the mole from tracking people down that way. They had to travel and eat somehow, and it wasn't like the Order was comprised of billionaires.

A strange sound caught their attention. Baka was looking at the town again, and Kanda followed her gaze. The other two continued looking around them at the mountain for a few more seconds before they caught on. A strange glow started from a spot on the mountain below them, and a spark flew up. It made a strange whistling sound, and flew towards the town in an arc. It came down, in the center of the town. As it did, it spread out in a canopy, and fell on the buildings.

It exploded.

A whoosh of wind flew out, up the mountain, almost knocking them over. The fields by the town were pushed over, falling flat to the ground. A light burst from where the canopy had fallen, and none of them could look at it for a few seconds. Then the light faded, and their attention immediately went to the town...

...or what remained.

"Woah," Daisya breathed.

There was nothing left. The city was gone. It had been completely leveled. There weren't even ruins remaining on the ground. A massive burn ran across the ground where it had stood, but that was all that was left to state that something had indeed happened and something had once stood there.

"What. Was. That," Kanda demanded.

"That was not from any of us..." Marie murmured. "Is the town completely gone?"

"Wiped off the map," Daisya agreed. "It came from something down the mountain."

Marie frowned. "I don't hear anything from down there..." He froze. "Kanda. When I met up with you and heard voices..."

Kanda caught on. "You heard three people talking and none of them had heartbeats. The Triumviri." Daisya's look of confusion lead to Marie explaining it.

Marie sighed. "I guess that further proves the point that we're in trouble."

Daisya interrupted. "Alright, let's get going. We've already got the Triumviri and Noah after us. I'm not waiting around for something else to show up. Let's go find Tiedoll."

* * *

><p>Three days later found them on the side of a river, walking on grass near a town. This one had shown vague signs of worry about 'tornadoes and horrendous thunder storms', as the warning was being called when it was spread around, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the town they had previously left. This town was still functioning, and other than small whispers life was continuing like normal. It was unaware of the near miss of terrible danger.<p>

Baka was taking the whole thing rather lightly. Daisya had been quieter than usual the last few days, and Marie was the same, so Kanda actually had time to think. This never would have been allowed if he had been damned to Cross's team. That poor team had to trek everywhere just to find their stupid general, and then had to find a way to get him back without losing him or being drowned in debt.

This amount of provided thought time brought strange things with it. For one thing, he decided Baka was not from the original town he had found her in. (Why oh why had he ever brought her from the rubble? If he had cared about that sort of thing, he would have even mentioned something about not even getting a thank you.) There was no logical sense to her being there. Something had been strange about that town and her connection to it. In the end, he decided to give up on it. They weren't related. Maybe it was just strange coincidence that she had been under that particular table in that town, but that wasn't her home.

Also, was he the only one finding it odd that she was taking the destruction of the town behind them in complete stride with no consideration? Did she know what had happened? And if so, how were they supposed to get that out of her?

"Where the heck is the general?" Daisya grumbled under his breath, looking at the ground. "This isn't Cross. It can't be this hard to find him in one stinkin' town-"

"He's over there." Marie pointed. The other three all looked over, exasperated by the apparent avoidance of the general. Further down the river, by the outskirts of the town, a bridge across the water was hosting one man. He was painting. The man seemed to be taking no notice of them as of yet, an ignorance caused by his back facing towards them. He was focused on the scenery in front.

"That took long enough!" Daisya huffed, picking up his pace and striding to Tiedoll. The rest were slightly slower, although they were also impatient to move on. They were conscious of the important information they had to share. "Is that a Finder?"

Over closer to the town, a man in a white coat was watching the general and the surrounding area. He was waiting from something, from how he was standing and looking around. He caught sight of the approaching Exorcists, and this appeared to be what he waited on, for he started moving to Tiedoll, as if to announce their arrival. However, he didn't do much more than run up, and then just stand there, as if not sure that he should stop the painter's movements.

The Exorcists had no such hesitation. Daisya walked straight up. "Hey. We found you. What the hell do we do now?"

Tiedoll turned, 'surprised', although it was clear he had known they were coming the whole way. "All four of you!" he exclaimed, looking from one to another. He took a closer look, and saw the stuffed bunny's expression from where it was sitting on an oblivious Daisya's head. "...five..." Forgetting about that for the moment, he looked back over the group in whole. "You're all looking so..." His enthusiasm diminished. "Honestly, you're all looking pretty badly off. What happened to you fou-five?"

"A _fight_ with _akuma_," Kanda snapped, straining the words. "What do you _think_ happened?"

"Quarrel between all of you. Yuu and Daisya." A vein pulsed in the former's head. "The two of you are so violent. No need to draw your sword, Yuu, there's no akuma about."

"There they go again," Marie sighed, as Kanda ran off swearing at Tiedoll. "Guess we'll be waiting a while longer now." He leaned against the railing of the bridge. Daisya sighed, exasperated. Baka took one look at the bridge's railing on the opposite side of Noise, and immediately climbed around it, dropping out of sight. "Oh dear."

The Finder pointed at where Baka had last been. "Shouldn't someone watch out for her or something?" he asked.

"Nah. She's fine. Besides, she's also got that rabbit. She'll be fine."

The Finder looked between the two adults, extremely confused, but neither seemed like they were going to further elaborate on the oddity of the situation. Baka had disappeared completely by now, off doing her won thing like usual. Kanda was coming back now, Tideoll trailing a little ways behind him. Any questions could be directed towards him now, the Finder supposed, until he took another look and realized asking Kanda would probably give him even less that asking anyone else, much like a random person on the street.

Kanda passed by, still irritated at their general. With barely a glance around, he walked over to the other side, passed around the railing to the river's bank, looked under the bridge, and then walked back around. Satisfied that Baka was not off wrecking uncontrolled havoc, he came back up to the top of the bridge.

Tiedoll by then was talking to the Finder. "I'm sorry for your inconvenience. You said that you had something to tell all of us? If you have the time, would you care to tell?"

The Finder nodded. "I was alerted by the Order that it looks like Cross's team is going to end up in Japan, where the akuma have entirely taken over. They still haven't found Cross yet. They're suffering badly, and it's been suggested that the other teams head over to prevent anymore unnecessary deaths. It's up to you. I don't know what the other teams are doing."

Tiedoll gave a noncommittal sound. "We'll think on it. Is that all?"

"I don't have anything else. However, I do have another place I need to be," the Finder said, "so I'm going to have to leave the team. I assume and hope this won't inconvenience you."

"No," Kanda deadpanned, agreeing to the no inconvenience part. Tiedoll sighed quietly, but nodded at the Finder. He jogged off, disappearing back in to the town with his message delivered.

The group looked at each other.

"I guess we have some things to catch up on and do," Tiedoll pointed out. "Kanda, your apprentice hasn't run off, has she?"

"She's under the bridge last I saw."

"...Okay. So, I guess the first question that needs to be asked is whether-"

"Of course we're going! Akuma center? That's a lot of bashing at once!" Daisya enthusiastically yelled. His excitement probably went unheard, disappearing over the water, but Kanda glared at him nonetheless for redundancy of volume.

"Actually, I was going to ask whether or not anyone was hungry, but I guess that's a good answer to have too."

Kanda's look silenced anyone before any responses could come out.

Marie was the only other one who was now still taking this seriously. Tiedoll had long ago dissolved, and Daisya was quickly fading into good humor. Baka was... not cooperating with anyone.

"General, have you received news from the Order about some of the serious matters that have been recently occurring?" Marie asked quietly, not sure how much the general had heard. He couldn't read expressions to judge from his words that Tiedoll knew or not. Tiedoll, as it was, had.

"Unfortunately. These are bad times, and with that Finder's departure, we're on our own until all the Exorcists regroup at the Black Order. I trust everyone in this group to keep each other safe," Tiedoll said. Upon the dark note, all had regained complete seriousness. "Chief Officer Komui Lee informed me that there was something else that I needed to be aware of, but that you three could tell me. Baka was involved somehow...?" He barely had to look at their grim expressions. "I guess that's a yes. You should start from the beginning."

"How much were you told?" Marie asked. They were going to be talking a long time, he could tell.

"Nothing."

They were going to be talking a _really_ long time.

The three exchanged glances, not sure who should start. Daisya backed out. "Which one of you is going to tell him? I wasn't there at the beginning."

Marie turned to Kanda. "I guess that's you, then, since you've been with her the whole time."

He snapped, "But you were there when the weird shit started hitting the fan!"

"But not the whole time."

"Just for the stuff that matters."

"Somebody start already," Daisya complained.

"You're not helping! Why don't you start? You've heard it all!"

Tiedoll watched the ping pong match back and forth. "You know, you can just start from whoever was there at the beginning, and then trade off with what you witnessed. By the way, is it safe to leave Bunny-chan wandering around on her own schedule?"

"You can try and tell her different," Daisya said with a snort. "She's going to do whatever she wants to."

Tiedoll turned to Kanda. "Yuu-kun, you _are _aware that you have to enforce some sort of discipline, right?"

"If you're so damn picky about my teaching methods, then why the hell don't _you_ just teach her?"

"Because she was apprenticed to _you_, not me!"

"And who's fault was that!"

Marie sighed. This was going to take a long _long_ time. Where _had_ Baka run off to, anyway? Maybe she'd be the only one enjoying this.

* * *

><p>The train went around a bend, opening up a new field of view as it passed around the grove of trees. They were passing through farmland now. The main crop seemed to be corn and soybeans, and season of harvesting was coming on quickly, judging from the colors in the trees and plants. Also, the people outside working in the fields were a good help.<p>

From between two stalks of corn, a rabbit pushed its nose out. Lavi couldn't resist poking Allen beside him, trying to point it out. The other Exorcist, however, wasn't happy about being woken up and just grumbled at him. Linali was also awake, and she did see the rabbit. Bookman was... somewhere, while Krory was also sleeping on the train beside Linali.

"Thinking about the two of them?" she asked Lavi, referring to Kanda and Baka.

"Yeah... Wonder if they've met up with the rest of their group yet," he said aloud. He was silent for a moment. Then he brightened. "We should call Komui and ask! It's not like he'll be busy with anything important!"

Linali sighed. "He's got loads of paperwork to get done, Lavi." Her words had no effect, as the red head was already getting Timcanpy to connect to the Order. Aware that he wasn't getting back to sleep, Allen sat up to join in the conversation. Krory had woken up, but was still a little hazy.

After several more rings than normal, which created an exchange of curious glances, Komui finally answered. "Sorry, it's a little hectic down here. Need something?" he asked. Allen and Lavi exchanged another pair of glances. His voice sounded not only tired, but... weary. Not physically, but mentally. That was a tone none of them had heard him ever use before now.

"...Brother?" Linali asked.

"Linali!" His voice brightened. "Was there a reason for you call?"

"We wanted to see if you knew how Kanda and Bunny were doing," she replied.

"Ah..." He paused. "I was meaning to alert your group of the situation anyway. Is everyone there?"

"Hold on," Lavi said. "He joined up a few days ago after running off briefly to go do... something, but he's not in here at the moment. Probably on the roof, knowing him." As he spoke, he started opening the window. He yelled out it, "Panda!" More calmly, he said, "I probably just signed my death wish, but he'll be in here in a moment." He sat back down, far away from the window now.

It did him no good. A second later, Bookman flew threw, kicking his apprentice as he did so. He whacked him upside the head as well for good measure. "Is there something the three of you need?" he asked, his voice completely different from his actions.

"I have news the five of you need to hear," Komui began. "Something's been happening to the other groups that you need to be aware of. Attacks have been put against anyone we have in the field. Finders, Exorcists..." he sighed, "and it's not over yet. We have teams out there for the generals that have been entirely eliminated, or that have lost half their members. The Noah are mainly the ones attacking, and we just haven't trained in expectation for any of them to come out so soon."

"Is Tiedoll's group alright?" Linali asked.

"They're fine, but Daisya Barry was almost killed."

"But Kanda and Bunny are alright?" Lavi asked. "And Noise?"

"Yes, they're all fine. I think they should be meeting up with Tiedoll soon, if they haven't already. But just remember that you need to be careful. We're not ready for them to attack, but we have to be. Keep each other safe."

"Has there been anymore news about Bunny's irregularities?" Bookman asked.

"Several... A while ago she was riding around on a lion that had been eating townspeople. Her Innocence is shooting the lasers, you know. There were several odd events when they were attacked in a city recently, but that would only serve to confuse you more. The whole situation surrounding her is getting stranger and stranger."

"About the Noah attacks..." Lavi said. "Is there anything we really need to be watching out for in particular?"

"The vast majority of the deaths have been caused by a Noah whose ability is to go through things. This includes passing through someone's body with his hand to take an organ out, or something like that. His physical appearance is something we were just alerted to by Daisya, as before now no one who saw him had survived. He wears a top hat, has an almost feline face, and black curly hair."

"Where was he last seen?" Bookman seemed to be asking all the hard questions, but they needed to be asked.

"We're not sure if he was alive. He was being fought the last time he was seen, and he was in the area of Tiedoll's group. That puts him some distance away from you, but that doesn't mean he won't be able to cover it faster."

"You're not sure if he's alive?" Krory asked, the first time he had spoken since he had woken up.

"As I said, he was being fought. Neither of them have reappeared."

"It wasn't an Exorcist from Tiedoll's group?" Linali frowned. "I thought they were the only ones in that area."

Komui sighed. It was obvious from the sound that he didn't know what was going on either. "They are the only Exorcist group in that area, yes. However, the person who was fighting him wasn't... She wasn't an Exorcist, per say. We're not completely sure on her identity, and we only have a vague idea."

Bookman folded his arms. "Who's your suspicion?"

"Ohreina."

The change to Bookman was immediate. His eyes widened, his arms dropped, and he stiffened. Lavi looked confused about the change, and the others were just as lost. Looking between his teacher and the golem, Lavi asked, "Who's Ohreina?"

"Komui, there's no way she survived. It's been hundreds-no, thousands-of years since she was last seen. And if she's alive, that means that Negrynas probably is, too! There's no way any of them would have let the other side live."

"What are you two talking about? Who's Ohreina and Negrynas?" Allen asked, as bewildered as the rest.

"Myths," Bookman and Komui answered simultaneously. Komui continued, "Bookman, I agree with you, but the description was a perfect match. Also, shortly after the Exorcists got out of the town that was flooded with akuma and the Noah, it was entirely demolished by some powerful force. At least, we assume they got out. That report came from a Finder in the area."

"You haven't been able to contact them?" Lavi fidgeted.

"No, we haven't tried. I was just about to call you all to tell you this, but we're severing contact from the HQ and other centers between the Exorcists and Finders. The reason behind our abrupt massacre seems to be that someone leaked information to the Millennium's side. It's a dangerous bet, but it's all we can do right now. We can't just tell everyone to be on their guard. The Finders don't stand a chance, and the Exorcists are too valuable to risk. This is going to be your last contact with us for a while."

"If Negrynas is working with them, it won't matter how we try and evade them," Bookman pointed out quietly.

"Maybe, but trying is better than nothing. Is there anything else any of you want to ask?"

None of them spoke. They were still overflowing with the information they had already been given. Apart from Komui and Bookman, however, they were lingering on the Negrynas and Ohreina situation. Both names had gotten a reaction, that was certain. And how old had they said they were?

"It seems like we may be sending help your way if it seems like you will require it later on. The direction you're heading in has a lot of akuma in the area, and it's dangerous enough as is where you are. I'm going to remind you once more that you can't contact anyone unless you are at a branch headquarters. Be safe, all of you." The line clicked off.

Allen lightly patted Krory on the arm. "I guess this wasn't the best time for you to join the Order, huh?" he said, lightly smiling. "Hasn't exactly been a great place for inspiring confidence lately."

Krory weakly laughed.

"And you get to meet Kanda later, too. That's sure to decrease all our survival chances, especially if Allen and I are around," Lavi cheerfully pointed out. "Guess we've got to live until then, at least. I want to see if he's managed to teach Baka at all. Sounds like they're doing alright, though."

Linali looked at Bookman. "Bookman... Who's Ohreina and Negrynas? Why are they so important?"

"Ohreina and Negrynas date back to the creation of Innocence and Akuma. Actually, they _are_ the creation. Ohreina was the first piece of Innocence created ever, and Negrynas was the first Akuma created by the Millennium." He leaned against the door. "They were supposed to have died killing each other a long time ago, but if one didn't die... chances are there was no confrontation, and both are still alive today. While that is good for the Order, as Ohreina was incredibly powerful, Negrynas equaled her for the Millennium's side."

"That's... bad..." Lavi stated. "But what makes you think they're still alive from the description Komui gave?"

"Ohreina was brash and destructive. She was very protective of all Innocence, as they had all once been a part of her. Her best friend, you could say, died some time before she did. After that, she only got more and more angry. Legend says she hunted Negrynas across the earth in vengeance, and the two clashed powerfully. There are several features, such as the Sahara Desert, the Gulf of Mexico, Vesuvius, and huge craters where they supposedly fought, but none have been proven."

"Her best friend?" Krory asked.

"Akathartos." Bookman sighed. "This gets complicated. The whole entire _presence_ of Innocence is the Heart. The _consciousness_ is Ohreina. Her being, which is entirely Innocence, is where the consciousness is strongest, but it can be supposedly felt in each piece of Innocence. To make it easier to fight the Akuma, she decided to split herself off into many pieces. The immediate split was in half. The second half was known as Akathartos. She also had a consciousness. From there on, the pieces still have consciousnesses, but more dulled down. The ones that split off immediately from Akathartos and Ohreina are the strongest. The ones that went through multiple splits are more duller. With the amount of consciousness they have comes the amount of power. The more awareness, the more power, and the less awareness, the less power." Allen looked to have a question, but Bookman guessed and answered it. "The Heart cannot be found by bringing all the Exorcists together. The _presence _of all the Innocence went through Ohreina to Akathartos... and somewhere else. We can't trace the line from there. Being a legend, there's not much to substantiate all of this, but we've heard the stories."

"Why wouldn't have Ohreina come to the Order if she still is out there?" Linali asked. Then, with realization, she murmured, "She's hunting Negrynas again."

Bookman nodded. "If Ohreina is here, then her actions further dictate that so is her opposite."

* * *

><p>Tiedoll looked at them. "Kanda apprenticed a seven year old with a rabbit innocence that shoots lasers out of its eyes, randomly appears in the strangest of places, knows just about everything it seems, and for whatever reasons he is being chased around by some of the strongest beings on the planet while the girl annoys everybody around her unless they leave her alone. Did I miss anything?"<p>

Daisya shrugged. "That was basically it."

Marie glanced around. "Speaking of her, did she disappear off somewhere? Is Kanda with her?"

"I think they went down the river. It looked like Baka was looking for something. Did anything else happen I need to know about?"

"We mentioned the lion, right?"

"I found that very interesting."

"Voice connection?"

"That too. Odd way to talk."

"I think Kanda's finally good-natured about having an apprentice along," Noise added in. Surprised, the other two looked at him. Daisya's expression needed no further explanation. "Daisya, seriously. He's really taking to it now, I think."

"You were faking being able to see for so long. It's so sad to see your mask fall off."

"Shut up, Daisya. Seriously. I think he enjoys having someone around who actually listens to him, rarely talks, and agrees with his perspective on 'idiots'. Plus, the rabbit keeps freaking the heck out of anyone he doesn't like without having to do anything."

"He might also enjoy just being able to order someone around," Tiedoll murmured thoughtfully.

"General, she doesn't follow anyone's orders," Daisya corrected. Tiedoll opened his mouth, and Daisya added, "_Anyone_."

"People she respects-"

"_Anyone_."

"That respect list is pretty short, isn't it?"

"We don't know of anyone on it to date."

"We need to move on, I suppose," Tiedoll sighed. "Who wants to go get Yuu and Bunny?" No one was eager. "That's not a great example of friendly trust. Noise, you're on the best relations. You should probably go tell them."

Marie sighed, knowing there was no reasonable argument against it, and headed off to find the pair.


	13. Chapter 13

We don't own any characters except for the Triumviri and Baka. The bunny is a real life 'person' who rides around on Tsuki's head, so he kind of owns himself...

* * *

><p>"Who's the kid?"<p>

Tiedoll turned, smiling, to wave at Fo. She barely acknowledged him, looking down from her perch in the rafters to look at the child. Baka peered back up at her, simply looking up. Kanda ignored her, continuing on with Daisya.

Noise began to reply, before Fo groaned, dropping down to the ground some fifty feet below in the hall of the Asian branch. "Don't tell me this is the new apprentice of Kanda's."

Noise gave a shrug. Fo sighed, exasperated. "We're just pulling off random kids from the street to brainwash now? Retarded generals." Tiedoll paused. "And you stuck her with Kanda. Do any of you have any brains?"

"Well," Daisya called over his shoulder, "Cross was smart enough to make him pay off his apprentice."

"He's too busy screwing off to be counted as a general in my book," Fo snapped. She looked at Baka, who was still staring at her. "What?" The stare down continued. "Oh _hell_."

Kanda paused, glancing back. Daisya kept moving until he realized he was suddenly alone.

"Not you!"

Tiedoll glanced between Fo and Baka. "I guess the two of you have met?"

Fo grumbled, "You could say that."

Baka remained quiet. The bunny, sitting on her shoulder, grinned mischievously.

"Just don't cause any trouble," she said, and then whipped around to lead the way further into the branch. She strode past the other two who were ahead, and the rest followed her. "Bak's expecting you guys in some days, but that's just because they handle paperwork just as well as everyone else in the Order does. Plus, y'know, they just cancelled any communications between the Exorcists, which did not confuse things _at all_… By the way, you've got new uniforms in."

"Just the one for Baka," Kanda corrected.

"Nah, the science crews came up with some new forms of uniforms that will protect everyone even more. And it's better than wearing…" she looked at Baka, "…pajamas?"

The pajamas one of the science team from Europe had given her were looking worse than they had been, but were still somehow intact. She had acquired a too-large jacket as well, that had appeared mysteriously from Kanda. She looked at Fo, as if challenging her point. The guardian decided to let it be. "Well… Anyway, five uniforms coming up. And they seem to be quite proud of them, too."

"I'm sure we'll enjoy them," Tiedoll replied, since no one else was saying anything. "How are the other groups getting them?"

"Cross's team had to meet up with Miranda Lotto, a new Exorcist, so we sent the uniforms over with her. The rest of them… are facing other problems at the moment, but they're going to check into some HQ to get them, according to their paths. We knew you were coming this way, since…well, it's not like you guys were going to the Oceania HQ anytime soon."

"Fucking kangaroos," Kanda muttered.

"Glad to hear you feel so strongly about them," Daisya muttered back, the only one within hearing distance. Kanda shot him a glare that the exorcist shrugged at before moving on. Louder, he asked, "Does Australia even have akuma?"

"Sure."

"…_Why_?"

"Well, why are there akuma in Africa? It's not like he needs to really do much there."

"…Point taken."

She led them down several more corridors of the huge hall, before leading them into the science district of the underground area. "You're only staying for a day, right?"

"Don't plan on staying at all," Kanda deadpanned.

"Well, you weren't going to be able to sleep anywhere but the floor anyway, because _something_ got loose from the scientists, and melted the entire guest rooms' hall."

"No different from Central," Daisya said, unperturbed. No one else even had the decency to look surprised. That was not a good sign about home stability.

Tiedoll said, "Well, we will have to stay for a night, since otherwise we would have to rent an inn."

"Could just sleep on the train," Baka suggested.

"Yeah, but a bed might be more comfortable."

"So might a bunk on the floor, since no one has a room right now," Fo added in.

"I thought you said just the guest hall."

"No, I said that was destroyed. Never mentioned whether that was it. No, it took out…oh, maybe half a wing. But it's repairing. Should be done in less than twenty-four hours, so long as nothing else happens." She strode up to an office, and walked through the door. Daisya, only a pace behind her, walked into the door as a result of lack of attention to his surroundings. With a curse, he stepped back, holding his nose.

Kanda gave a 'tch', and pushed around him, opening the door and stepping inside. Baka followed him, with the others behind. Bak looked up from his desk, just as eager to avoid paperwork as Komui. "You've arrived! Some with less patience than others," he added, as he saw two expressions looking at him with no attempt at exchanging pleasantries whatsoever. "I guess we'll just move on to the uniforms, then."

"Ignore the brashness of my previous apprentices," Tiedoll brushed off Daisya and Kanda, while both looked irritably at him, having attempted to skip out on the half hour talk between him and the branch head. "I'm sure we both have things to talk about that are important." Fo groaned, sharing the other two's dismay.

"Alright," she said, "you two can chit chat, but I've got other stuff to do, so I'm just going to show them to the room and get a move on."

"What else could you have to do?"

"Clean up your mess, idiot!"

She stalked out of the room, quickly followed by the rest of the Exorcists except for Tiedoll. The door slammed close behind them. After a moment of silence, Tiedoll and Bak glanced at each other again, becoming serious. "Are the casualties really as bad as I've heard?"

Bak grimaced. "I doubt they could be exaggerated. We have hundreds dead-"

"_Hundreds_?"

"Yeah. It just keeps growing. We're searching for who could've done this, but it's not a small list. Several people were asking for locations of other Exorcists, but the reasons why are what we're only now double-checking. I should be able to tell you before you leave. Is it true one of the so-called Triumvir surfaced?"

"That's what I was told by my apprentices, but it sounds like they only ran across two. None of them seemed to be showing any aggression towards the Exorcists, unless they were just trying to lay out taunts of strength. Baka was dropped off, too."

"You know, they're beginning to think she could be the Heart."

"Anything's possible, in this situation." He sighed. "If she is, I don't know if the Triumviri- as we call them, whether they are joining forces or not- would have any more or less of a reason to kill her. Either way, it seems to have played into our hands to the utmost that she was apprenticed to Kanda over anyone else."

Bak raised an eyebrow, surprised. "What are you saying?"

Tiedoll gave a wry smile. "You think his pride is going to let her be killed?"

Bak shrugged. "No, I suppose not. Think she'll be alright, then?"

"Oh, she'll be fine. I assume you haven't heard the rumors about her, then, that were just confirmed to me by the rest."

Bak began to look a little unsettled. "Well, which rumors? I mean, there was the one with the lasers-"

"That's true."

"-and the lion-"

"Also confirmed."

"-and some other stuff, including knowing the Triumviri-"

"She did."

"-and wreaking hell with everyone who annoyed her in the slightest."

"That about sums it up, if anything can."

Bak blew out a breath. "Wow. Just… Wow. I think this may have even gotten even stranger." He paused. "Do you suppose…? Could the betrayal have come from the rabbit? It acts like its own being, right?"

Tiedoll grimaced. "Yes… but I don't think so. The rabbit is like a smaller and fluffier version of Kanda. It acts harshly and brashly, but it wouldn't cause the murder of its own comrades."

Bak stopped in his attempt to picture a smaller and fluffier Kanda. "Well, if we're relating this to Kanda, would it really? I mean, I wouldn't put it past him, actually, after all the crap from the experiment that happened…" The mood in the room plummeted even further as both considered what they were saying. "General… Your team was the only one that didn't take a hit. Daisya was close, but how did Ohreina know where to go? She appeared at just the right time."

"It points to the rabbit more, though," Tiedoll said in defense of his previous student. "Kanda has been angry about the lack of information about the Triumviri he has been given, and he was only told about them after the attack on Daisya. But I'm still not sure the rabbit would have done it, even if it has little allegiance for its little time spent in the Order. You said Cross's team took a hit, too?"

Bak sighs deeply. "It sounds like it. They were leaving for Japan, and heading for an unknown destination, ignoring the Exorcists as they passed over. Of course, the Exorcists attacked, and two of them, Allen Walker and Linali Lee, were separated and pulled inland. A Fallen One was attracting the Akuma, and the former Exorcist was trying to save the poor soul from being devoured. The latter only appeared afterwards to help. The Fallen One was killed by a Noah, and Allen Walker disappeared."

"Is there anyone else who could be the result of these attacks?" Tiedoll sighed. "These deaths… A six year old child could not be the result of it, no matter how she is depicted. Nor her Innocence."

"I suppose Ohreina, if she were around, could be trying to take out the Exorcists, but that wouldn't explain her allowing the Noah to do it because he would be destroying the Innocence."

"It's not them." Fo dropped through the ceiling, facing both of them with crossed arms. "Komui Lee sent in another report about the situation. The search has shown up Suman Dark as the one who called in, and the identity of the Fallen One correlated with it. General, you don't need to worry about your team."

"That's good to hear," Bak sighed. "Not that someone did betray the Order, I mean, but…"

"Yeah," she agreed. "The Exorcists have their uniforms. The door's still open, because they're waiting for you, General, but I need to head out. Something nearby is not letting me rest easy."

Bak frowned. "Do you think it's an Akuma?"

"Not sure, but I don't think so. Those hordes might still be nearby, but it doesn't seem like it's them. Anyway, I want to go see what it is."

"How about taking one of the Exorcists with-"

She disappeared by way of a refusal before he even finished his sentence. She was gone for a moment, before reappearing. "By the way, General? I'd get your uniform on as soon as possible so you can head out immediately. If Cross's team was attacked before they even reached the mainland, they're going to need some help soon. And you might want to get farther away from this Noah character as well."

"Thank you, Guardian. I think I'll take your advice on that." He managed a smile, which she responded to with a nod. She disappeared into the wall once more, although this time she didn't reappear. Tiedoll looked back to Bak. "I suppose we better be heading out. Cross's team will need assistance. Is there a boat that can get us there?"

"A boat is being sailed down the Yangtze that should get you to Japan. Cross's team had to deal with a broken down boat, but it sounds like Exorcist Lotto is going to be keeping it held together until they arrive. Anyway, when you reach the seaside, you'll have a vessel awaiting you with a crew. The Finders in this branch are less uptight than those in the European area, so they'll probably take a better attitude toward any words from Kanda and Daisya. That says nothing about the rabbit, but, y'know, they're smart enough not to get bitten twice."

"I suppose that's good to hear…" Tiedoll shrugged. "Either way, it'll be an interesting journey. I'm going to talk to Kanda, and see if there's a way we might be able to leave Baka with you. The chances are slim from her end, but it's worth a try. We might just happen to leave without telling her, I suppose, but she'll be safer here than in Japan, however strong her Innocence is."

Bak nodded in agreement. "I don't feel comfortable sending her out there either. Good luck on your voyage and during your fight, General."

"I hope there's enough luck to go around for all of us."

* * *

><p>Fo gestured towards the open door of the large walk-in closet. It had five hanging uniforms in it, and two corners around which someone could go to change out of the view of everyone else in the room. "So, this is the room. Exorcist uniforms hanging on the racks. Pretty self-explanatory by the sizes. Leave the door open so the general can get in, but I've got other stuff to be doing, like the aforementioned wing, so I'll be ditching you now." With that, she turned around to leave. Daisya, Noise, and Baka moved past her to look at the uniforms and sort out whose was whose. Kanda, however, caught Fo's arm as she began to move past him.<p>

"How do you know the rabbit?" he demanded quietly, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the rabbit or girl.

"From your tone," she dryly responded, "you've already had your share of conversations like this. I know the rabbit because it's been along for a longer time than you already believe, and our paths have…crossed...before now. That stupid thing's got me under oath so that I can't disclose more. But she will tell you at some point, if just because she enjoys surprising the shit out of everyone. But I promise this: she's on your side. That doesn't particularly mean the Order as a whole, though."

She pulled her arm without any apparent effort from his grip, and then dropped down through the floor. Kanda muttered a curse under his breath, and then went into the room after the other Exorcists. Daisya came around under corner in the room, already wearing the improved uniform. He tossed one of them at Kanda, who caught it. "That's yours. Noise already left, because he figured we might as well grab food before heading out, or sleeping on the floor. Did that woman already-"

"She's gone."

"Damn. Could've just asked that way."

He and Kanda looked over as Baka came around a different corner, also garbed in the new uniform set. It was an impressive feat that she had gotten it on, considering it was backwards and there were buttons. Daisya face-palmed, and Kanda made a gesture with his finger to show she had it on backwards. She looked over her shoulder as well as she could, down her back, to look at the front. Then she turned, went back around the corner, and reappeared a few seconds later with it on correctly.

Tiedoll appeared a few minutes later, and Daisya wordlessly pointed out the only remaining uniform hanging in the closet. Kanda had already changed, and was leaning against the door jamb to wait. Noise came back, having inquired as to where the food source was. As soon as Tiedoll was changed, Baka stood up from the floor, and Noise began leading the way to the food.

Tiedoll said as they walked, "I spoke with Bak-"

"We noticed," Kanda snapped.

"-and we both agreed it would be wise to eat a meal here now, get some sleep, eat a meal in the morning, and then head out."

"Why?" Daisya shortly said. "Can't we just leave now?"

"The ship we'll have to take to Japan isn't ready for us yet. It's going to be a while longer, even if we set out now."

"How long will it take for us to get there?" Noise asked.

"Less than a day."

This seemed to unsettle the waiting decision even more. Noise finally stopped, gesturing at the cafeteria. "This is where I was directed to. That's the food." There was a regular ordering station, like at the European branch, next to…a McDonald's.

Daisya looked at the latter. "What the-"

_Time skip*_

Kanda gave the general a doubtful look as they left through the HQ's doors. Baka and the rabbit were not among them. "You really think this is going to ditch them?"

"Not really," he responded.

"Then why are we doing this?" Daisya asked, exasperated. Tiedoll had sent off Baka to bed, and then announced to the other three they were jumping ship, not aboard the one to Japan, but before Baka could realize their absence. None of them had been eager to spend the night, so there were no arguments that met him. Kanda hadn't even mentioned that they were leaving behind his apprentice, apparently on the same thought line as Bak and Tiedoll had been when they came to that decision. What he was lingering on was the chances of it working.

"Well, we can always try." A few hours passed as they traversed through the woods.

Tiedoll became serious as he spoke up again. "Bak informed me of some things we had not previously been aware of, because of our lack of contact, even though it's only been a week. The death toll has risen to the hundreds, and Cross's team took a hit. Allen Walker, although no body has been recovered, has been reported dead. He disappeared in a fight involving a Fallen One and a massive horde of Akuma. The Fallen One, Suman Dark, was brought down and didn't survive, despite the attempts of Allen Walker and Linali Lee."

"Those idiots," Kanda immediately responded.

"So, there's still been no way found to save them?" Daisya murmured, almost to himself.

"No. It's a good thing the Order stopped trying to push the Innocence into a non-Accommodator."

"Cross's team was attacked by Akuma instead of a Noah?"

"Bak didn't specifically mention one, but it sounded like one was present. The horde of Akuma was mostly demolished, from the Exorcists' attempts and, ironically, from the Fallen One. They're on a boat to Japan now."

"Since he was the Fallen One, was Suman…?" Noise asked, not finishing the question. Tiedoll grimaced, and nodded. "How much information does it seem like he gave?"

"Enough, as we know. Bak didn't go into specifics."

The quartet was quiet for a few more minutes. Then Kanda asked, "Why the hell did you try to leave Baka behind, again?"

"It was worth a shot, as I said. Why?"

Kanda pointed down. The bunny grinned at the general and other two Exorcists as they turned to look.

"Aw hell," Daisya muttered. "So close."

"Not at all," Baka corrected. "To edit your recount," she said, looking at the general as she picked up the stuffed animal, "Allen was found two hours after you ditched me. Fo found him in the woods. He's unconscious, but he should survive, I think. But he lost his Innocence. It was destroyed."

Tiedoll sighed. "This war is taking too many casualties."

"That's the toll of war."

* * *

><p>*Yes, we said that just for humor. All the rabbit's idea.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

a/n: Oh my. It's been... almost three months. I swear, we are not trying to punish you! It was just complete accident that neither of us had any time to write anything for you wonderful people. _Someone, probably one of our loony congressmen, decided we have to attend school for 6-9 hours a day. Ridiculous, no?_ We're going to try to post several soon because of this long and unexpected hiatus. Sorry! I won't spend any time more writing this author's note, because you care less about the excuses and more about the plot. _And the crazy stuffed bunny, of course. Also, my seventeen Kanda shimejis say hi._

* * *

><p>Three miles inland off the coast of the Sea of Japan, the five Exorcists and very creepy bunny were making their way further into any sort of trouble they could manage. Their ship, quickly running out of supplies, was turning around to go back to China. The group walking into danger couldn't have cared less that they were leaving.<p>

Kanda glanced up at something in the sky. "What the hell is that?"

Tiedoll flicked his gaze upward briefly. "Akuma. Don't kill it. I thought one would be coming, but I was expecting it earlier."

Despite having been told not to, Kanda drew his sword and Daisya set his soccer ball down on the ground in front of him. "Greeting party?" the latter asked.

"Yes."

"Damn Millenium-"

"From Cross."

He waved at the akuma, ignoring his surprised apprentices. The akuma landed about thirty yards away, clearly sensing the death aura around the two hot-headed Exorcists in the group. It waited for a few moments to see if they were just planning to attack before opening its mouth and speaking. "Cross says if you're just going to get in the way, go home."

Kanda growled, "That bastard-"

Tiedoll shook his head. "He has good reason. He's spent a lot of time working on this."

"He's also spent a lot of time acquiring debts, debt sharks, and girls," Marie muttered under his breath.

Tiedoll shrugged. "What can I say? The man has a full docket."

"Are you going to continue?"

The exorcists looked back to the akuma. "You going to try and stop us?" Daisya demanded.

"I'll show you the way if you're going to continue." Tiedoll nodded, and the akuma turned and walked away, leading them further into Japan. The two exorcists kept their weapons out, and Marie seemed to be ready to draw his. Tiedoll was obviously thinking more about where his painting easel was and what colors he would have used for the trees. Baka was simply taking a stroll through the park.

"How long have you been like this?" Tiedoll asked the akuma.

"Cross turned me four months ago. Another one of us is leading the other team to the center of it."

Kanda frowned. "Turned you?"

"Cross found a way to turn off their bloodlust," Tiedoll explained. "They're not against humanity like this." Back to the akuma, he asked, "How far inland is Cross's team, do you know?"

"They're a few miles ahead of us and coming from a few degrees more south. You landed in different places. They've slowed down because they've been attack multiple times, but none of them have been injured so severely that they've stopped. I observed them while I was waiting for you to get here." They started up an incline along the wooded path they were taking. Marie started to prepare his innocence, but the akuma shook its head at him. "Not necessary. The akuma aren't going to come to attack you too."

"You're sure about that?" Kanda replied shortly.

The akuma nodded. "Haven't you noticed that you're protected?"

Tiedoll frowned. "Protected?"

"I had trouble finding you because you're shielded in shadow, and your scent is covered up by akuma. Someone's doing a good job at hiding you."

"How are they supplying the akuma scent?" Marie asked no one in particular. None of the others had an answer. As they reached the top of the incline and started coming down, they had a larger view of the spread of forest in front of them. A small clearing nearby caught Baka's attention.

"It doesn't mean you're safe," the akuma continued. "They'll still come after you. Some of the lesser akuma have been eaten by stronger ones recently because of the small population of humans here. There's not enough to supply all the akuma."

"So we might still have akuma trying to eat us."

"Yes, and there are level threes around here."

"Oh joy."

As if to prove the point, a looming figure appeared in the sky a mile overhead, dark and threatening. The group continued on without stopping to fight it, as that would simply gather unwanted attention. The level three started drifting down closer and closer for a few minutes. Kanda ran two fingers over his katana, letting it light up, but he didn't attack yet. They all avoided looking right at the akuma. It let out a screech above, but didn't move any quicker towards them. Marie and Tiedoll began preparing their innocence as well.

A sound, somewhere between a wolf's howl and a lion's roar, rose hauntingly out of the woods nearby. The akuma overhead paused, and so did the one on the ground, looking for the direction of the sound. Baka kept her eyes riveted on the clearing. Kanda glanced down at her and followed her gaze.

A large animal, too far away to be seen clearly, stood in the clearing, staring at the akuma above it. Even from half a mile away, the stance of the creature couldn't be mistaken as anything but threatening. The creature must have been at least three feet tall at the shoulder, all black, and with the angular head and massive tail of a wolf and the lanky, muscular body of a large cat. It let out a predatory growl, warning off the akuma. The smaller akuma, in turn, began backing up a few meters at a time. Then it turned sharply and flew quickly in the opposite direction. The creature stayed where it was, turning its head to watch it go. Then it tilted its head down, looking back at the exorcists and other akuma. Without another sound, it turned and walked off into the woods, large paws silently padding across the wooded ground.

Kanda looked down at Baka again. "Why do you have to attract so many damn animals?"

* * *

><p>A half hour later found them looking over a cliff edge onto a town that wasn't really a town anymore. The buildings were being quickly demolished by falling bodies and swinging weapons, and any architectural layout of the town was covered up by debris. A large creature was ungainly and absurdly thin for something that size, with a black star on its forehead. A structure nearby it collapsed, seemingly out of nowhere, and if one watched, a redhead fell out of the sky and through a wall of a different structure.<p>

"Baka, stay h-" Kanda glared at the spot where Baka _should_ have been. "Where did that damn child run off to?"

Tiedoll pointed. "See that small figure all the way down there?"

Kanda, Daisya, and Marie looked over the cliff edge towards a small speck making her way quickly towards the town. Marie laughed. "I think you've met your match, Kanda."

Kanda glared at him, and then jumped, disappearing after his apprentice. Tiedoll smiled, turning to face Marie and Daisya, who were already looking at him. "Go help the others who were already here. They're injured and are going to need reinforcements."

"Should Baka stay out of this?" Daisya asked. "I mean, she's pretty young for this kind of fight. We won't be able to watch after her the entire time either if things start to get messy."

"I think the rabbit should keep her safe enough, but I'd prefer she stay out of it. Regardless, she's safe with Kanda at the moment."

The two younger exorcists shot off to join the fighters in the remains of the city.

* * *

><p>Bookman and Lavi looked over from where they were standing in the building the latter had crashed into moments earlier as Kanda gruffly entered the room. He immediately glared at Lavi. "<em>You<em>."

"No, that's your name. Nice to see you again, Yuu! It's just been too long, hasn't it?"

"I ought to string you up by your heels and-"

"Alright, _children_, let's handle this like mature adults. Kanda, who's with you?"

"Who else would be with me?"

"Just wondering if anything had happened to them while you were out in the world." Bookman glanced up through the hole in the ceiling Lavi had made. "I guess it was good timing on your part. Miranda's getting tired, and everyone's injured and running on their last bursts of strength."

"Hey, I haven't seen _you_ doing all that much!"

"Shut up, stupid apprentice, I'm old!"

"Both of you, shut up!" Kanda snapped. "Do not let Baka run off somewhere, and if she does, try to make sure she doesn't get killed."

Baka tilted her head slightly, raising an eyebrow at Kanda. Lavi grinned cheerfully. "Aw, Kanda, feeling a bit protective today, are we? You should totally adopt her. The two of you would make such a charming father-daughter pair..." A significant glare cut him off.

"Do you have a death wish or something?" He directed his gaze toward Baka. "_You_."

"Yes?"

"You are _not_ doing any fighting."

"Why not?"

"Because if you get your ass ripped apart by an akuma, I'll be the one everyone blames! Sit out of the fight and don't do anything. Just talk with that creepy ass bunny of yours or something." He whipped around, stalking quickly out of the room. The others ignored his departure, instead focusing back to the large shape in the sky as it made a loud, mournful sound.

"That thing's going to keep causing trouble if we can't take care of it," Lavi commented to Bookman.

"Not a whole lot we can do about it at the moment. Go help the others. I'll watch Baka." Bookman shifted his gaze to where Baka was standing under the hole, peering up at the large akuma. The rabbit was perched on a broken beam in the hole, also looking up at it. "What is it?"

"It's just a bunch of akuma all gathered together. I suppose that makes it easier to kill them all off, in a sense."

"Say that while you're trying to get near the thing," Lavi said, somewhere between a scoff and a snort. "That's not fun, I'm here to tell you."

A loud crash came from nearby. All three looked sharply in that direction, and Bookman gestured quickly to his apprentice. "Better hurry. Something seems to be going badly, and I doubt it's on the akuma's end." Lavi ran off before the second sentence was even finished. A loud explosion followed his exit quickly. Bookman walked over to Baka and looked up at the big akuma. "Do you have an idea about how to get rid of it?"

"A few. Not sure how well they'll work, though." She crossed her arms, continuing to frown at the akuma, as if that would bore a hole in it and cause it to explode. "Who's here right now?"

"Lavi, Linali, three from the crew of our ship, Miranda, and Krory. You won't know the last two. Miranda has innocence that allows her to control time, and Krory's makes him like a vampire that sucks out akuma blood. I'm guessing Kanda sent the crew of your ship back with a single glare."

"They were running out of supplies, and it seemed like they didn't want to sit around to see the whole place get destroyed. Why three from the crew?"

"Everyone else died in an akuma attack while we were crossing the ocean."

* * *

><p>Outside, following the explosion, Lavi stepped back towards Kanda and Linali. Tyki grinned in front of them, waving at the newcomer. "So strange to see you all reacting so protectively of one another. Don't you know that'll slow you down in the long run?"<p>

"Like we're going to take advice from you," Lavi snapped back.

Tyki opened his mouth to reply, but then the grin faded from his expression and he turned slowly to look off in another direction. "Wait…" He frowned, puzzled. "I guess I need to be going… That's strange…"

Lavi frowned. "What?"

Kanda gave a snarl of irritation. "Oh, the hell you will-!" He jumped after Tyki as the Noah sunk into the roof they were standing on and vanished. Kanda gave a growl of irritation but gave up the pursuit. He stopped at the edge of the roof, looking at the ground just in case the grey fellow showed up along what had been the streets.

"That's one less person to worry about for now, at least," Lavi commented. He let his hammer drop down to his side, looking out over the destroyed area with a feeling of exhaustion. He quickly let the emotion pass from his expression, brightening up and turning to Linali to make sure she was alright.

"Damn bastard thinks he can just ditch a fight and run away with his tail between his legs!"

"I think you've got your priorities all out of order, Yuu…" Lavi said, sighing. Kanda jabbed Mugen at him, causing Lavi to jump aside or get impaled. "Not nice! Did you see that, Linali? Not nice!"

Linali started hurrying back over to where she had been standing before, where her friend was collapsed on the ground. "Miranda is unconscious. Her body's been too strained over the last few days, and she can't handle this." She was still breathing harshly, curled up on the ground in exhaustion.

"Then she should get off the field before she causes any trouble," Kanda said shortly, before being given two reprimanding looks, both of which went ignored. He turned his gaze to the hulking figure above them. "Haven't any of you bothered to do something about that abomination?"

Lavi gave a small, nervous laugh. "Yeah, that didn't go too well… Feel free to give it a shot, but I don't think we're going to manage to hit it with anything short of a combined attack-" The last syllable of his word was cut off by the sound of the huge creature sweeping its hand across the ground, knocking over buildings like they were a mere blockade of pebbles. "Aren't Marie and Tiedoll over there?"

"Unless they moved," Kanda replied, ignoring the danger of two of his comrades and focusing on the akuma.

The akuma started to sweep its hand down again, and a loud roar stopped all movement. The akuma paused, startled by the loudness of it. It let out a moan of confusion. The animal made a sound again, the start of a roar that rose and fell in frequency twice before rising again and changing sharply into a hunting howl of a wolf close on the scent.

"What the hell is that?" Lavi asked, peering off towards the direction of the sound.

Kanda didn't reply, shooting off in the direction of the noise. Lavi made sure the other two were going to be fine, and then extended his hammer and went after the older exorcist. The akuma was staring down at whatever the creature was, and slapped a palm down at it. Three entire houses were flattened by the hand, but the creature dodged the blow and leaped up, a large dark shadow against an even larger and darker figure. Kanda could recognize it as a significantly bigger version, a bit larger than three combined houses, of the dog-like animal that had followed them through the woods and warned off the level three akuma.

The creature had a long, lashing tail that looked like it could destroy an entire house. The tail was almost as long as the rest of the body, giving it a cat-like appearance. A mountain chain ran down the creature's back, the ridge running from the neck to the end of the tail. The face was angular but broad, a mix between a wolf and a cat. It had two sharp features on its head that were either horns or sharply curved ears. The body itself was strong and athletic, muscles rippling as it moved, and gave off a distinctly canine appearance. The skin had a leathery look to it, not possessing a scrap of fur anywhere. The entire animal seemed to be a mix between a canine and feline, with a few dashes of something entirely more sinister. The first word that came to mind was _demon_. The akuma had their own frightful quirks and behaviors, but they weren't servants of the devil. This one could have walked straight from the pits into the mortal world.

The demon lashed out, raking claws across the arm leaning against the ground. The akuma slowly moved backwards, not having agility to do so quickly. With a snarl, the demon jumped at it again, grabbing hold of the arm with one claw and pulling itself up. It ran up the rest of the arm, surprisingly quickly for an animal moving at that slope. The akuma tried to bat it off with the other arm, but the demon jumped onto the other arm, and then from there to the head. The akuma bent under the weight, restrained slightly by the demon. The black creature dug its claws and teeth into the back of the akuma's neck, distracting it from anything else.

Kanda came to a stop a few houses away from it, looking up at the strange fight above. Lavi dropped down out of the sky on his hammer next to him. "Don't get any ideas," he said seriously. "Looks like these two would do better to just duke it out thems-"

Kanda, having not even been listening to him in the first place, jumped up, lunging for the head. He moved from arm to arm, and then swept the katana through its head in a powerful gesture, slicing it clean open. The albino head split in two, and the body fell to the ground. The demon sprinted down the back, jumping off to the side as the body fell to the ground. It stood on a building that was still standing, looking down curiously at the dead akuma. It then looked over at Kanda, who glared back at it.

Lavi wisely kept his mouth shut, figuring something unpleasant would happen to him if he said anything.

Kanda was ignoring him anyway, glaring daggers at someone who he had _just told_ "Stay where you are". Could his damn apprentice not listen to _anything_? Baka wasn't paying attention, instead busying himself with looking at the demon with a frown on her face. She finally noticed the glaring, somehow having not noticed it before, and waved at Kanda. He just glared even more. How the hell had she gotten over there so fast anyway? He hadn't exactly been slow, and even Lavi had kept up a fast pace for once in his life. That was one kid with too many mysteries.

Nearby, a figure leaned against one of the structures still standing, looking at the demon. Tyki had reappeared, glancing curiously at the figure. He began to move closer to it, and as he did so, several other grey people came into view. The animal growled at them, baring its teeth in snarl. It turned away and started bounding off. The Noah quickly started pursuit, running after the dangerous black animal.

A black hole appeared by the looming tower in the center of all the destruction. The Millennium appeared, and he was not in a happy mood. The exorcists forgot about the demon and the Noah in favor of looking at the more immediate threat.

"You destroyed my akuma," he snarled, the large smile on his face eerily contrasting his grating voice.

"Well, what did you _think_ we were going to do with it? Play hide-and-go-seek? Sorry, but he would've sucked at that." Lavi bit back any further statements as the Millennium glared down at them from above.

"You think this is funny? Just a bunch of games to you, isn't it, Bookman's apprentice? Everyone's lives just go down on paper for you. The course of events will happen as it will, and it won't make any difference to you," the Millennium shot back in response. Lavi's jaw clenched along with his grip on his hammer.

Marie, standing close enough to Lavi to have heard both sides of the exchange rather clearly, shouted down to him, "He's just trying to rile you up!"

"Or am I just being truthful?" The Millennium decided to ignore any further comment in favor of drawing his umbrella and slashing it downwards in an aggressive gesture. A wave of blackness flew out of it, demolishing everything in its path within seconds. With a curse, Kanda leaped down off the building and jumped in front of Baka, pushing him behind her and holding Mugen in front of them. He closed his eyes and waited for the repercussion to hit.


	15. Chapter 15

a/n: In apology for our… hiatus (sorry!)… we're posting a few at the same time. We'll probably have this and another one to make up for the three month hiatus, and then we'll go back to normal. By the way, stuff that happened in the manga/anime that you already knew about… we'll skip over that. We all know what happened, and we're not going to go into extended detail over it, but just enough so that you can remember the awesomeness and not have to go back and read the whole manga again. Well, I suppose it's time for another chapter.

* * *

><p>Kanda stood up, slowly lowering Mugen as he did so. Baka looked over his arm as he dropped it down. The two surveyed the damage briefly, seeing the pit of destruction the Millennium had caused. The two were the best off by far. Something seemed to have countered the blow, leaving a half-circle of what ground they had been standing on before at their feet. Everywhere else, the ground had been demolished in replace of a black substance that seemed to just be the charred soil, stripped of all the debris from before.<p>

Around them, the other Exorcists were trying to get their strength back. Lavi's arm shifted as he moved it, trying to get back up. Krory turned over, accompanying a heavy "Ugh!" Miranda tiredly let the clocks disappear from over her and Bookman, while Daisya hefted himself up to a crouch. Tiedoll and Marie, meanwhile, hadn't been affected by the blow, from their position a good distance outside of the blast radius. The three from the ship's crew seemed to be in the worst shape, having not been wearing any of the protective gear the Exorcists had at their disposal.

In the center of all the vast dark ground, a massive jagged shard of crystal stretched up, encompassing someone in it. A handprint appeared on it, pounding, trying to get out. Baka frowned, stepping forward to move toward it. Kanda gripped her shoulder,  
>holding her back. "Sit, stay," he growled at her. "For once."<p>

Meanwhile, Lavi and Bookman were exchanging glances, recognizing the shape from the ship. The Millennium seemed to recognize its importance at the same time, floating down towards it. A cover of smoke came, sweeping over everything and obscuring much of what was going on. Kanda saw Lavi and the others start running towards the shard, moving to protect it from the Millennium. He turned, trying to catch a glimpse to see if the large demon creature was still lurking around or if any of the Noah had stayed. Even his incompetent friends could protect a single piece of… rock, right?

Baka started to jerk away from him of her own accord as something pulled her away. Kanda held on tighter, raising Mugen again threateningly and stabbing whatever was dragging her away without looking. The Noah jerked back, letting go of Baka to avoid being run through.

Tyki smiled. "Well, well, it seems like you're a bit protective of your apprentice, Yuu Kanda. That is you, right?"

"Go screw yourself." He dragged Baka back a few steps, starting to step forward to attack the Noah.

Tyki held up his hands, gesturing for Kanda to calm down a bit. He didn't heed it, and moved forward, slashing at the grey man before he could move. Rather than try to evade, Tyki just dropped through the ground. Behind Kanda, Baka muttered, "That's not fair." Then she yelped as Tyki appeared under her, starting to drag her under. Kanda grabbed her under her shoulders, and jumped into the air. She hung onto him to avoid falling.

He landed a second later, and set her down without letting her go. Mugen was still bare in his hand, watching for the Noah. A finger tauntingly tapped his left shoulder, a foot above his apprentice's head. Kanda turned the opposite direction, slamming his elbow into Tyki's side.

Tyki, covering Baka's mouth with one hand, jerked back but dragged her with him. The exorcist started forward, but stopped when Tyki twisted her chin to position a dagger on her throat. Tyki smiled slightly. "What's it going to be, Exorcist? Going to kill a little girl to get at me?"

"Figures," Kanda snapped, as much to himself as to Tyki. "I get stuck with a damned apprentice, and the first thing she does is get in the way of everything."

Tyki smirked. "That's your main priority? Wow, no wonder you don't have many friends."

"Just drop the kid so I can kill you."

"Not very subtle, are we? No, the Millennium wants to talk to her. What about, I don't know. We're all a bit curious, you could say, about the mysterious five-year-old Exorcist with the powerful friends."

"Friends? You mean indentured servants," she snorted. "But that's not the question you should be asking," Baka said suddenly, smiling slightly. Tyki and Kanda both looked down at her. "The question you should be asking is 'Where's the rabbit?'"

Tyki paused, looking up quickly at Kanda to see if he would give it away involuntarily. Kanda looked back, but more just to watch the Noah fly backwards from the blast of the laser that came from the rabbit at Kanda's feet. Baka ducked down, and then turned around in time to see Tyki painfully hit the ground a few yards away. Kanda ran forward, chasing the Noah off into the mist. Baka looked down at the bunny, smiling. "Well, we've caused a ruckus for today."

Kanda slammed into a white figure as he chased after Tyki, and backed up, holding the sword up more out of reflex than anything else. The white figure pointed a sword back at him for the same reason. It didn't take long for the two to recognize each other, and although neither were Noah, akuma, or the Millennium, death threats were quick to ensue.

The person was the same height, the same build, and had the same facial features as the self-proclaimed friend of Kanda's, Allen. The personality hadn't faded at all either, nor his reaction to Kanda. What had gone away was the obnoxiously large white arm of doom that had been Allen's Innocence, in place of… this. He wasn't going to say it, but it fit Allen a lot better than the older one had. No, what he did say was how much hair he was going to shave off him for threatening to cut off Kanda's hair and how he would eviscerate him and-

And then Lavi butted in with asking them all to be friends. Buzz off, redhead, and let the adults kill each other. Well, the adult and the immature teenager, but usually the scarred teen acted more like an adult than Bookman Jr. did.

The smoke began clearing, and Baka appeared by Kanda's side again. Allen smiled at her. "Has Kanda traumatized you too much, or has he just not opened his mouth?"

"I swear, you're not going to live to see your fifteenth-"

"Sixteenth, retard."

"-…fuck you- birthday, you white headed, monkey-brained, bean sprout moron."

"Yeah, well-"

"Guys, is now really the time?"

Marie groaned. Wait, when did he get there? His earlier words probably got lost in all of the usagi's and moyashi's droning. "Where is everyone?"

Lavi, having retained a hint of maturity and using it now, looked around them at the remnants of the town. "Looks like everyone's okay. Well, before the smoke all came, it looked like everyone was alive. Where's Tiedoll?"

"He and I weren't hit by the blast. He was fine last I saw him a few minutes ago, and I can still hear his heartbeat. I can hear the other's too…"

"We can't see them in this fog, anyway, so I guess you're going to have to answer your own question there," Lavi said with a small laugh. He looped an arm around Allen's neck. "Well, man, we weren't exactly expecting you to just drop in on us like that! Nice surprise you gave us."

"Tch. Showing up late when no one needs him anyway. Typical."

"Kanda, would you just shut your face for once?"

"Guys, guys, not in front of the kid."

"Have you even talked to her before?! She cusses more than I do sometimes."

"And I wonder whose fault that is."

"I didn't-!"

Linali sighed, shaking her head, but smiling. "Okay, let's go get everyone together and see if anyone needs medical help, okay? We've got more to do than just argue."

"I don't know, I think I could stand around and do this a little longer-" Lavi jabbed Allen in the ribs, and Allen looked away from glaring at Kanda to looking back at the others. "I mean, of course."

The group began walking away from where they were standing, back to where Marie could hear the heartbeats of Miranda and Krory. Daisya was off with Tiedoll, he said, so the two were probably fine and were farther away anyway. "So, Allen, how'd you get here so fast?" Linali asked. "I mean, you couldn't have taken a boat… did you?"

Allen shrugged, rubbing the back of his head. "No, there's this weird… world, I suppose… It's complicated."

"Always is with you," Kanda muttered.

"Would you two stop arguing!"

"For once, I'm actually staying out of it," Lavi mused to Marie. Baka seemed content to just listen for the moment. "Hi, Krory!" he cheered as they came upon the duo. Krory was supporting Miranda, who seemed to still be wiped and tired. She managed a small wave at them and a smile.

"It's good to see everyone's okay," she said. "Allen?"

"Long story. I might as well wait until everyone's here," he replied, smiling back at her. "You look tired."

"We all are. When did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

Kanda tugged Marie away while the rest of the group talked. In a low voice, he asked, "You heard the creature attacking the large akuma?"

Marie nodded. "Yeah. When it left, it drew most of the Noah off. The one returned later once it was far away. The others started trickling back, too, but they left with the Millennium a few minutes ago. It was moving too fast for them to catch up with it, so I figured they just gave up and came back."

"Tiedoll's going to want to hear about this. The one came back and tried to take Baka. Said the Millennium wanted to talk to her or something."

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder… We met Negrynas and Ohreina already, so could that have been Akathartos?"

"No, she's dead, remember? Although it seems like no one has their entire time line completely straight when it comes to this." He looked over at Baka, who was watching the two of them. She seemed to know what the conversation was about. Neither of them moved for a few seconds.

* * *

><p>The group was camped out in a small cave along a body of water by where the fight had taken place. Common sense said to move away from it on general reasons, but also, the wide black space had no cover, and none of them wanted to go back to that creepy area anyway.<p>

Linali was laying on the floor, completely wiped out from exhaustion, and Miranda was leaning against the wall in a similar state. The others were sitting and standing around the room, doing better than the two of them. Allen was leaning over Linali, talking quietly to her. Kanda looked over to Tiedoll, who was leaning against the mouth of the cave and looking outside. Baka was sitting in her own secluded area in an alcove some distance from the group (everyone was pretending she wasn't there for a sense of normalcy) and generally not paying attention to them.

Kanda walked over to his former teacher, following his gaze while speaking to him. "What the hell was that?"

"I knew the Millennium was strong, but I didn't expect him to be able to level a town like that."

"No, I mean the-" He glanced at the general. "Didn't you see the large demon on the akuma?"

Tiedoll looked at him for a few seconds, following the logic of that sentence. ("Akuma" translates to "demon" in Japanese.) "Right..."

"It ran off and the Noah chased after it."

"I know. I saw that. It's been a most interesting series of circumstances."

"So it's connected?"

"Of course."

"What's going on?"

Tiedoll gave him a blank look. "I don't know," he said innocently. Kanda glared at him.

Over by Linali, Allen looked over and smirked. "Kanda, I see you've still got a killer sword. It gives me a heartache every time to realize such an awesome thing is in your hands."

"I'll show you what a heartache feels like, along with a gut-wrenching feeling!"

Linali sighed. "Look, can this at least wait until we get back to the-"

"Bunny-chan!" Krory yelled suddenly. The others turned quickly to his alarmed shout, just in time to see him lunge for her as she vanished into the white star beneath her. The entire cave was filled with a grave moment of horrible silence as they all stared in shock at the place she had been.

"Linali!" It was Allen who shook them out of their reverie this time, as he vanished after Linali, holding tightly to her arm. Lavi grabbed hold of him before he could go completely, and Kanda and Chaoji tried to drag the red head back by his leg. Unable to pull all three back because of their momentum but unwilling to let go, the two were pulled through.

The suddenness of it all left another hole in the cave of dread. Miranda grabbed onto Krory, who had been too far away to go through because he had been by Baka's last position. With her other hand, she grabbed onto one of the other ship crew members. The man grabbed onto his friend.

Tiedoll shook his head. "They only showed interest in those two, and the only other one who would've been taken was Allen." He looked out of the cave. "And besides; we have a bigger problem."

Krory looked around him to the army of large black akuma making their slow way towards them.

"Ah."

* * *

><p>The group of four untangled themselves from each other, removing feet from each other's butts (some intentionally placed for a proper but misplaced kicking), and twisting hands out of their faces. Chaoji rolled ungracefully from the top to land upside down, Kanda shoved Lavi away from him, and Allen just stood up with complete disregard for anyone on top of him. Linali was helped up by multiple people at the same time, with too many hands to tell whose hand was whose. The attitude change from blatant disregard to others' personal safety to absolute care could give anyone whiplash.<p>

Linali looked around, frowning. "Where are we?"

Allen recognized it, however. "This was the strange town I came through..."

"Then get us the hell out of here!"

"It's not that easy! This place is like on huge maze, and I don't know where the door back to the Order is."

"There can't be that many-"

Allen simply pointed down the row of houses at all the doors. "And there are more streets where this one came from," he dryly said.

"That was the worst comeback..." Lavi muttered.

"And yet absolutely true," Allen pointed out. He looked around all of them, looking for someone. "I thought Baka was grabbed too. Where is she?"

Linali glanced around quickly too. "Maybe she ended up somewhere else in town?"

* * *

><p>Baka picked herself up off the ground and looked around at the empty homes around her. She turned around in a circle, taking the scenery in, and then started walking off down the street slowly. A few streets later, her stomach rumbled and she stopped. She looked up at the sky one more town, and then behind her. She sat down in the middle of the road.<p>

"Okay, I'm lost."

* * *

><p>"I hope she's alright," Linali added, frowning in worry.<p>

Lavi laughed. "With that bunny of hers, she'll be better off than the rest of us."

The others didn't laugh with him, just staring at him. His laugh faded, turning into confusion. Kanda drew Mugen slowly but with decisiveness. Lavi inched backward a step. "Hold still for a moment."

"W-What?"

"There's a pest infestation I need to take care of."

"Er, K-Kanda, what are y-you doing?"

Allen muttered, "Which pest infestation?"

Answering Lavi's question, Kanda replied, "I'm ridding us of two usagis using one stone."

"Er, hehe, that looks more like a sword to me, Kanda..."

"Would you like a closer look just to be sure?"

"N-No, this distance is fine for me."

"Just hold still."

Lavi ducked a swipe of the sword, bouncing backward a step with a yelp. "W-Wait! Maybe the bunny can help us find Baka!"

"Hm." Pause. "I suppose we won't need your memory, then."

Lavi let out a yelp as Mugen slashed at him again, and he dodged away. "Hey, let's be reasonable here!"

"I am being reasonable! Hold still!"

Due to the inner struggles of the group, none of them noticed Tyki leaning against a home, arms crossed and watching them with amusement. Lavi was chased several yards down the road with the noah watching.

"When you've got a moment, I've got something for you," he said with a smile.

Lavi, running for his life already, completely ignored him as he covered his hands with his head. Kanda swung the sword at him again, also ignoring Tyki. Lavi grabbed Allen, trying to use him as a shield. Allen yelped, but had his Innocence still activated and used it cover his head against the blow of Mugen. Linali rubbed her head, watching the three try to kill each other. Well, something like that anyway. Tyki waited for a few seconds before trying again. "Um…"

Linali was the only one who paid him any heed. "Yes?"

He blinked. "Don't you guys have bigger problems?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you guys have bigger problems than trying to kill each other?"

"Allen has a self-righteous thing going on, Lavi can't keep his mouth shut, and Kanda has attitude issues," Linali said darkly, "and I can't control them anymore." She looked back to the trio. "It was bound to happen at some point."

"Well… let me know when you're done…" The statement came out more quizzically than it was intended to sound, as Tyki wasn't really sure if that was the right thing to say or not. A few minutes later, with Allen pinned to the ground underneath a sprawled Lavi and Mugen inches from the red head's chest, he spoke up once more. "Hey, I'm not sure how good of an idea that is, considering several of you may die before-"

"Do you want to die too, Curly Hair?"

A few moments of surprise passed. Tyki looked at them all in disbelief. Then he burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, at least I know I've met my match in dysfunctional friends and families." He grew slightly more serious. "Well, anyway. This place will be disappearing soon, so I should get a move on with my little spiel here. See that tower at the very center of all this? There's a door at the top that'll let you out of here."

"So you just dragged us here to make us walk up a bunch of stairs?" Allen deadpanned, still under Lavi.

"The rabbit's got an extendable hammer, you retard." The sword moved, allowing the two up. "I guess that means he has some use."

Tyki shook his head. "No, you can't get in through that way. You've got to go through the tower's rooms. We're going to be in different rooms, waiting for you to come. You're not going to get past us, but if the sun supernovas- [insert eye roll from Tyki here] -and you get past us for a split second while we turn to look, there's a door by Road that's up in the top room that you can use to get out."

"Oh, trust me," Kanda said darkly, "it's going to feel like the sun supernova-ed by the time we're through with you."

The street fell into a tense silence. Kanda's look could have been the cause of the leveled town in Japan, Linali was calm but deadly so, Lavi was serious for once (a scary sight in its own right), Chaoji clearly had things to fight for, and Allen was not backing down from this fight. Tyki, in return, responded to all their looks with an easy smile as he looked from person to person, not yet deterred. If his opponents' looks were promises and oaths, than he soon would be.

Tyki gestured to the umbrella in his hand. "This is Lero. He'll be leading you through the rooms, if you even make it past the first one."

"We don't need-" Kanda started to snarl.

Tyki suddenly frowned, and the dark expression made Kanda stop. The noah looked a little unnerved. Carefully, with forced nonchalance, he said, "I thought the little kid's Innocence was that stuffed rabbit."

The five from the Order looked down at the stuffed animal that had been forgotten in the middle of the street. Linali nodded slowly. "Of course. It's not one of ours, obviously."

A wary expression took over Tyki's face. Linali and Allen exchanged confused looks. Tyki edged back a step, looking at the bunny. "Where did you find that?"

"With the kid, moron. It's her Innocence."

"I… Are you sure that's Innocence?"

"What else would it be?" Allen asked, frowning. "What, scared of a rabbit?"

Tyki broke gaze with the stuffed creature to look at the Exorcists. "Innocence is controlled by the Accommodators, and that one's moving."

Lavi frowned. "So…?"

"So she has to be near her Innocence to control it. That child isn't here."

The entire group froze.

"So… Who's controlling the rabbit if Baka isn't?"

As if an unseen hand had pushed it over in slow motion, the bunny's head slipped backwards to direct a chilling grin at the exorcists behind him.


	16. Chapter 16

a/n: This will be our last posting before a three-week hiatus while Tsuki is busy with finals week.

By the way, "Akuma" means demon, so it was kind of awkward to have Kanda only being able to think up the word "demon" for that large black thing... but there was nothing else that really fit the description, so we just went with it.

* * *

><p><em>Outside of a pub, the wailing cries and moans of loss and despair filtered in. The room was almost empty, with the exception of a couple sitting at a table. The woman didn't pay the man any heed, choosing instead to watch the events unfolding outside. The man watched the beautiful woman in front of him, chin propped up with his hand, and completely ignoring the horror.<em>

"_Don't you have somewhere to be?"_

"_Mmm." Another mournful scream emanated into the pub from outside, but the bright smile never left his face._

"_That's kind of getting creepy now, and you did scorn me and make it so no one ever believed me again. And now you've come to sit in the middle of a battle with me."_

"_Yeah... Hey, I suppose I could do something about that."_

"_Are you smitten with me?"_

"_Completely."_

"_Is that what you've told others before me, too?"_

"_Maybe. Memory fails me as I admire your beauty."_

"_My city falls as we speak. It's too late for prophecies now."_

"_For this city, yes. Not for the world." He looked at her. "I've got a present."_

"_You just went from saving the world to a present."_

"_No. Same thing." He fiddled with a something in his lap._

"_A box?"_

"_The size can change. It's what's in it that's important. I need you to take care of it for a while."_

"_How long?"_

_He smiled._

"_A long time."_

_He handed it to her reverently. "Take this. It'll stay with you wherever you go and hide itself. But, it won't protect you, Cassandra. Sorry."_

_She smiled. "I was kind of thinking you would do that."_

_"My favorite human." _He returned the grin, but wider.__

_Then he walked outside and flew into the sky. _

_And for future reference, he wasn't really a man._

* * *

><p>Baka found the town amusing. With all its little twists and turns, and houses all over, cleverly designed to get someone quickly and hopelessly lost. It had certainly worked on her, but not on the large black demon she was riding. Its shoulders were powerful under her hands, and the back was strong underneath her.<p>

The dog (she thought of it like a dog; it was just so cute) stopped, body tight and controlled. The broad head looked around, down the street at the buildings across from them, at the sky. Only then it continued, turning down a boulevard. She barely had to hold on. Its balance was like a cat's, and the movement was strong and rolling like a horse. She looked behind them out of curiosity and saw the long, dangerous tail, erect and muscular.

She looked forward again, resting her chin in between the dog's shoulder blades and felt it move beneath her. Why did people own horses when they could just ride around like this? Then she guessed that maybe many people didn't have this kind of animal readily available to them...

The large dog/demon stopped at another corner, lifting its head silently to look up at the large tower he had arrived at. Baka followed his gaze, curious about the structure in front of him. It sat down on its rump, and she slid off. It turned its head around to look at her, waiting. She looked back at it, and then up to the structure again.

"I suppose we better get started… Can you still smell him?"

The dog/demon gave a guttural growl in answer. She nodded carefully. "Let's go find him, then." She started walking to the tower. Like a family pet, the creature followed behind, nudging her ever so slightly in the back with its head to remind her she was there. She reached one of the doors and tried to open it. It didn't budge and she frowned. The creature gently shoved her out of the way with its body mass and then reared up, slamming its forepaws into the door harshly. The door shook, and gave the next time the weight came crashing down. The door splintered and collapsed, letting the light through to the long hallway beyond. Baka looked over the creature's shoulder, peering into the tunnel. She smiled, patting the dog/demon on the back, and walked in. It took her a few paces to realize it wasn't following.

She turned back, curious. It was looking off in another direction, sniffing the air carefully. She frowned, looking that way, but didn't see or hear anything strange. The dog/demon took a few hesitant steps that way, before looking back to her for direction. She nodded her consent, and the animal sprinted away, clearly needed somewhere else. After a few seconds of watching it go, she put her attention back to the hallway and padded inside. It wasn't like she needed a bodyguard, after all. She knew what she was doing, and she had her own skills.

After all, her name wasn't originally Baka.

BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK

Damn that bastard with the goddamn lightning. That had to be cheating.

Of course, it was one of the Millennium's pawns, and they didn't even seem to follow the laws of nature anyway. Didn't they know it was not physically possible to go through things without ripping apart your own body first? Or heal that fast? Or contain lightning in your body? Bastards. Bastards who didn't know how to fight fair.

He loved it.

The regular akuma didn't put up nearly as much of a challenge than these guys did it. Yeah, he knew he was just supposed to be focusing on taking them out, but this was actually _fun_. How many jobs do you think have written in their job description: "Allows you to wield a katana at a large, lightning-throwing nimrod with a personal vengeance against you for just being in the way"? Seriously. Screw the others, he was doing just fine. Didn't they remember that this was his job as well as theirs? Morons.

The first time that thought process had crossed his mind, he'd been doing a lot better than now. Why was it that the one law of physics the Noah decided to obey was conduction? His hands were getting fried because this one Noah decided he couldn't break that one law. It wasn't like he was going to go to jail or anything for it. And back to this whole law-breaking thing, where the _hell_ had that stupid chain come from? He'd never tried to fight somewhat upside down before, and it wasn't an experience he was going to want to repeat again for fun.

The bunny was sitting on a nearby rock. It had bitten the Noah a few times, but the lightning didn't react well with fur, apparently. It had retreated, instead just content to watch the battle for now. Maybe it would do something if he got into serious trouble, but it's not like he wanted to sit around and see what would happen if he was about to get deathly fried. It seemed very intent, though, and the grin wasn't quite so easy going.

He was slammed back into the ground by that aforementioned chain, but before he could get to his feet, shot off in the other direction from a jerk in the chain links again. A burst of light flew out from the rabbit, zapping the Noah, but the light didn't do much. Kanda snarled, but the small sound waves didn't do much good in preventing him from possibly breaking a few ribs a second later on the rock wall his back hit. They were at least cracked, he knew that much. It wasn't like the Noah gave him a whole lot of time to check.

Well. At least Baka wasn't going to have to worry about the Noah as long as that stupid whitehead was able to find her first.

BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK

"I can't believe that moron chased us around like that," Lavi grumbled for what must have been the twelfth time by then. They were walking through the hallway to the second room, having left Kanda behind after he chased them around with Mugen. He'd be fine anyway. Nothing could penetrate that thick skull _and_ huge ego of his anyway. Why had they ever bothered to even _ask_ if he'd wanted help? Rude, inconsiderate, and brash, that's what he was. They'd said they'd stay and help, and what did he do? Chase them around the room in front of their enemy and send demons after them. Thanks, Kanda. You're a great friend.

Didn't mean that all of them were regretting it from the bottom of their hearts, though.

"Maybe we should go back," Linali murmured uncertainly. She glanced back the way they had come.

Allen shook his head, smiling. "Nah. I'm sure he's fine. He' s probably already finished the fight and is coming to meet us. We'll just waste time by going back at this point, and he'll take our heads off if he found out we were going to go help him." The hallway didn't seem to be ending. How long had they been walking down this thing anyway? They had to have been a few miles from where they left Kanda, and he was pretty sure that tower had not stretched on sideways for miles.

"We could pretend we were going for a bathroom break and the toilets were back that way," Lavi suggested. "On second thought, _do_ they have any toilets here?"

"I'm not sure that's where our priorities should lie at the moment…" Chaoji pointed out. "Do you know who's next?"

"You know as much as we do, my friend," Lavi cheerfully replied. "We have absolutely no idea where we're going or what we're doing! So refreshing, isn't it?"

"_I_ know where we're going and what we're doing, Lero," Lero muttered under his breath, which was remarkable since he didn't actually breath. Everyone, as they had for the last half hour, ignored him again. He was a little put off by this, but had been getting used to it. It wasn't like they were going to have to deal with each other for much longer anyway.

"Tyki and Road are the only ones who we actually have met before," Allen pointed out, "so other than those two, we can't really make a guess."

"Those two won't be until later, Lero."

"Do you think this hallway is ever going to end?" Lavi groaned, straining his eyes ahead to look. "I swear, this building won't have to fall apart for me to die, because my calves are going to beat me up in a second for walking this much."

"We've only been walking for half an hour!" Allen exclaimed, exasperated.

"Yeah, but you two are walking fast enough to outdistance that lion Kanda and Baka ran into. Slow the heck down!"

Chaoji and Allen dropped the pace back a bit to make it easier for the other two. The floating umbrella had no such problems. "Hey, you," Allen asked it. "Who're we fighting next?"

"I'm not telling!" it laughed. The others went right back to ignoring it, and it sulked as it lost the spotlight.

Allen frowned suddenly as they walked. "So, we know Baka's an Exorcist, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course." Lavi nodded. "Hevlaska said she was. And she was able to destroy the akuma."

"No," Linali said, seeing where this was going. "The bunny did, so we know the bunny's Innocence. We just assumed that she was its Accommodator."

"Then… Why's she here?" Lavi said slowly.

"Maybe we don't want to know," Allen said with a small laugh. "But she must at least be _connected_ to the bunny. Hevlaska, remember?"

"Yeah. It's all just…weird…" Lavi sighed. "And it's just going to get stranger."

* * *

><p>Kanda glared at the Noah getting up in front of him. He had just kicked its ass to Kingdom Come, and the thing was getting back up <em>again<em>?! Damn thing wasn't a _Noah_, it was a fucking _zombie_ was what it was. It certainly looked like shit enough to be one, although he was relatively certain that most zombies didn't have a roar like that and that lightning didn't usually go spouting out of their pores. Other than that, though.

If it unleashed that blast it was about to, the door to the rest of the tower was going to be completely demolished.

His days just got better and better. And it looked like they were going to abruptly cut off right here and now.

"You're not getting out of here if you destroy that door," he snarled pointedly. The Noah didn't seem to hear him, instead being in favor of throwing out the wave of energy. Kanda braced himself, almost being thrown backwards by the force of it. Using Mugen as a deterrent, he threw off the majority, and what little streaked past was almost harmless and didn't hurt anything. The Noah collapsed, as much from the reverberations of the power reflecting back to him as from his injuries. It didn't matter how the Noah died anyway. As the last of it bounced off his katana, Kanda could see the room completely falling apart.

He glanced down at the snow around him, soaked in his own blood by his clothes. The rabbit by his feet had some drops of blood on it, and looked up at him with a (for once) serious expression. Then he shot a look back at the door, where it was trembling horrendously because of the collapsing supports. He fell to one knee, a light snarl over his expression. "Damn that promise," he growled under his breath. "Guess they'll have to figure out for themselves that I'm not coming back."

The ground under his feet began vibrating dangerously, but he didn't bother moving. He wasn't going to run when he wasn't going to make it.

"Baka better have made it out of here alive already. You fucking rabbit, you better get out of here if you can so she can kick some Noah ass later."

The ground eight feet in front of him completely fell apart, falling down to whatever waited below. He wasn't sure yet if this place was actually in the sky or if it was all just an illusion. Whatever the case, he figured he'd probably die if the ground fell away. It's not like he had the power to stop it, though. Since when had his thoughts gotten so depressing? He rubbed his thumb over Mugen's hilt, already missing the sword. Almost for the best he was about to die – otherwise he'd have to suffer more of his own crappy thoughts.

"Why don't you come on and find out if she made it?"

Kanda's eyes snapped open, widening slightly in surprise as he was yanked off his feet violently by some force behind him. The rabbit bit onto his pant leg to stay with him. He reached up with both hands, snarling, to grab onto what was holding him and try and steady himself. He didn't quite reach, but the flat part of Mugen slapped against something above. His body slammed into something large and rubbery, but warm. Then he swayed away with nothing under his feet for him to right himself on. Even as he tried to get a better grip, the maw holding onto his shoulders had a tight vice-like grip on him.

The large black demon from the fight on the ground lunged forward, covering the entire upward distance to the door in the one bound. Kanda could feel the teeth digging into his skin, digging in just enough so that it could hold on efficiently. The demon dug its claws into the door and threw it off, then ducked its head down to essentially throw Kanda through. He landed on his back with a surprised grunt, beginning to empathize with the Innocence of his apprentice. If this is how stuffed animals felt all the time, he'd be pretty pissed off too.

He pushed himself up off the snow, getting a better look. The demon looked the same, with the exception of being a hell of a lot closer than he'd seen it before. It towered over him, and from this distance, he could see the emotions that flickered across its face, almost human-like. Then its head got abruptly, and uncomfortably, closer as it ducked down, shoving him roughly through the doorway like he hadn't been about to jump through by himself. He stumbled as he fell _again_ – God he was getting into bad habits. At least the Usagi wasn't here – and dropped down to one knee to steady himself.

He heard the rest of the room give away, and turned sharply to look. The large demon was gone, presumably having fallen with the ground.

Kanda waited a few seconds, making sure it was really gone, before turning to the hallway. Someone walking towards him knocked into him, not expecting him to suddenly turn. The someone tripped over the steps behind him, accidentally taking Kanda down with him down the five steps.

Kanda glared up at the person above him on general terms, but the glare become sharper, more vicious, as he saw who it was.

"_You_."

Negrynas looked down, pushing himself up off Kanda for a second. He made a strangled sound, recognizing Kanda in a panic. "Oh my." He scrambled up off him, sprinting down the hallway as fast as possible. Kanda thundered after him, picking up speed and moving after than the bookkeeper-ish old being. About five hundred yards down, he reached out, fingers just grazing the back of the akuma. Negrynas stopped and skidded sharply, and Kanda flew past him. Negrynas grabbed the handle of a door Kanda hadn't seen, opened the door, and threw himself inside. Kanda quickly went after.

Negrynas continued into the circular room full of books, running quickly past to a door in the center of the room, raised up onto a pedestal. Kanda glanced around quickly. This looked like it would've been the next room Allen and the others would've fought in, just because it looked so different from everything else, but there were no marks on the ground or disruptions along the walls to show any signs of a fight. And Negrynas was going through the door, so it was already open. Must have been an easy fight...or not one at all.

"Negrynas!" he yelled after him after he passed through the door. The akuma barely glanced back at him, continuing to sprint for his life. "If you don't stop, I'm going to throw a sword through your _head_! It's obviously big enough for me to not have to do much aiming!"

"I'm not trying to kill you, so why are you trying to kill me?!"

"Because you're an arrogant ass and you piss me off!"

The bunny kept a tight hold, hanging out in the hood of his jacket. It seemed to be enjoying everything, at least.


	17. Chapter 17

a/n: This was written shortly after we wrote _Kanda: The Littlest Elf_. By shortly after, I mean about thirty minutes later. I'm worried about how this is going to turn out… (FYI: That story was a crossover between _Rise of the Guardians_ and, obviously, _D. Gray-Man_. It was really funny and really adorable. You should go look at it.)

_And now we take a short moment for the two of us to spontaneously fangirl over _Rise of the Guardians_. … Okay, thanks. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, you _have to_. It's so funny, and Chris Pine was totally adorable and hot all at the same time. *fangirl giggle*_

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><p>"Cross," Baka said firmly. The red haired man dropped the last akuma he had been fighting on the floor as it turned into dust. The air that went through the mask he was wearing shielded him from inhaling the poisonous fumes. "You've caused a great deal of stress and impatience for the Exorcists sent to protect you."<p>

"Not that you care, kid," Cross said, turning to walk away. "You don't even know what's going on. I hope Komui didn't think I'd be so easily persuaded to come in by a cute little face."

"No, that's what Linali is for." She folded her arms, and her tone became teasing. "Marian, we were on first name basis once. Now you're calling me 'kid'?"

Cross turned around carefully. He looked her up and down with a flickering glance. Then an edge entered his expression. "You _bitch_…." He cursed as his memory caught up with his vision.

Her neutral expression became a sneer. "Asshole, your old man's memory starting to go along with your strength? Took you an awfully long time to get here, don't you think?"

"Keep asking, punk. You're not going to get anywhere simply hiding in someone's shadows."

"At least I can face people I don't like. I heard you just ditched your apprentice when he had to go to the Order."

"Yeah, well it's not like you've had a nice and honest conversation with anyone yet. Does anyone know your _real_ age?"

"Hell, if anyone does, it's sure not me!" The bark of laughter that followed that statement rang throughout the open room they were standing in for a few seconds. "Lost count decades ago!"

"Old hag, don't you have somewhere else to be?" he growled.

"Hey, you stopped watching over the new generation of Exorcists when you left your apprentice on his own! I'm simply looking out for them!"

"Looking out for- You've got someone who carries you around!"

"I'm building up his patience and temperance."

"You tell yourself that." He glanced at the rabbit. "Still got that ratty old thing?"

"It's more accurate than your gun."

"Mine never misses!"

"Exactly. Mine doesn't always have to fire to hit its mark."

"You little…"

"'You tiny.' Not little."

* * *

><p>Negrynas looked like a shamed child. He was sitting on the ground awkwardly with his legs crossed and his hands in his lap. Linali was frowning in concern, looking down at him. She was the only one feeling any pity for the man. Kanda had caught up with him and run Mugen through his leg to make him stop. A few other wounds had been inflicted in their chase as well, and he was bleeding from a few. Negrynas was cradling his right arm.<p>

With Kanda keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't run off, the two had made their way as quickly as possible, even with Negrynas's leg, through the building. They had eventually caught up to the group ahead of them. The group had made it to the final room to find it empty, waiting impatiently for something to happen when Negrynas and Kanda had shown up.

Now, they were in a circle around the prisoner, waiting for him to explain it all. He either wasn't a good story teller, or he just didn't want to tell them what had happened.

"Who are you?" Kanda demanded.

Negrynas didn't respond, fingering the wound on his arm. Mugen tapped the floor warningly.

"She can explain it," Negrynas murmured. "Ask her."

Linali frowned, confused. "Who?"

Negrynas laughed slightly. "Isn't it obvious?"

Kanda caught on, crouching down in front of him. He probably didn't mean to look that menacing. It just happened. "I thought you were trying to kill her."

Negrynas shook his head. "You won't believe me. Ask her."

"We don't know where she i-"

"_Ask her_."

"We're asking _you_."

"_Ask her_."

Kanda snarled briefly, Mugen twitching in his hand. Linali put a hand on his shoulder. "Kanda, maybe he really can't say."

"Oh, and like Baka is going to tell us anything," Kanda snapped irritably. "Where are all the akuma and Noah? Tyki was here earlier."

"Ask her."

"Stop saying that!"

The interrogation proceeded downhill from there.

Half an hour later, the building shuddered. Linali grabbed on to Lavi and Allen, keeping the three together. Chaoji and Lavi clapped a hand on each other's shoulders, and the former hesitated before gripping Kanda's forearm. The latter sheathed Mugen, before looking at Allen. The two shared a grudging look before simultaneously grabbing a hold of Negrynas to complete the circle. Chaoji looked like he'd just been punched in the stomach by that move.

The floor around the edges of the room started to give, falling away into space. The edge of the abyss gradually crept closer as seemingly random chunks plummeted. The ground beneath Linali shuddered violently, and Kanda and Allen yanked the others closer. The rock fell a few seconds later. No one looked particularly worried, but the death grips they had on each other's hands or shoulders gave it away.

"I can tell why she decided to stick around," Negrynas murmured suddenly. The others looked at him sharply. He shakily got to his feet, but no one bothered to stop him. "Same reason I did." He returned the grips of Allen and Kanda, reaching out to both their biceps to pull them in. "Come on, huddle." When they were less than excited to do so, he added, "Look, it's not like I can make this situation any worse. But I _am_ planning on getting us off this heap of rock."

He let go of the two Exorcists, and disengaged their hands from him. He made a gesture for the two to hold on to each other. Kanda glared.

"If you've got a better idea for surviving this, please enlighten me," Negrynas said charmingly. Allen shrugged and grabbed Kanda's arm. A hand gripped his shoulder in return. The ground trembled alarmingly beneath them. Negrynas moved behind Linali and reached around either side of her, grabbing onto Allen's right arm and Chaoji's left.

"And down we go."

The ground gave out.

The shock was sudden, jolting all of them. Their grips on each other became stronger, except for Negrynas. He gave a snarl, and his grips on Chaoji and Allen let go. Kanda saw him drop away and snarled, "Negrynas!" The akuma didn't bother replying.

Their plummet went uninterrupted for a few seconds with only a few rocks smacking into them to slow the fall. A large shadow crossed over them, and a claw dipped down through the air. It snagged the back of Chaoji's Finder uniform, pulling him, and therefore the group, closer. Another claw snaked out, and Kanda recognized it as the black demon. The claw wrapped around Linali and the people around her, grabbing on… almost exactly where someone had just been.

"_Negrynas_!" he yelled again, this time in frustration at being left out of being told that critical piece of information.

The demon's head came closer, teeth bared in a grin that had appeared as soon as he heard his name shouted in recognition. His back bent, and the tail whipped around underneath them as he curled his body around theirs. He had let go of Chaoji, holding on by his other claw. One of the back legs reared up, and the he switched them on to his back claw. The group of friends held on tighter to each other.

Negrynas roared in sudden challenge, and bucked his entire body sideways. He grabbed hold of large chunk of floor and used it to propel himself upward. The demon was only able to use three of his paws, lest he crush his precious cargo. They came into reach of another rock, and he repeated the process to hurl himself upwards. The motion was done again and again, until with a final burst of power, they were out of the rubble and hanging over the last chunk of floor standing. Lavi, the only one with a clear view of the ground below them, let out a sharp laugh. Negrynas growled in approval back, before tucking his back legs in against his body, effectively protecting them against the impact they were about to have.

They began to drop, and fell faster and faster towards the hanging floor. They flew past the very top, and Negrynas reached out with his front legs to snatch a hold of what had been the supports below. It slowed their descent, and the Order members under his protection swayed slightly in his grip. He made a light sound low in his throat. When none of them responded, he repeated it until Linali understood what he was trying to say. "We're okay," she called out. He grunted, and then reached up, hauling them all up step by step.

With the ground shuddering next to them, Negrynas's front claws finally reached the top, gripping the floor tightly. A chunk of it came off in his claw and he tossed it aside. He readjusted his grip and dragged most of his body up before slipping slightly as he let go of his hind leg. His side slammed into the floor, right into the wound Kanda had inflicted. Negrynas roared harshly in pain, back leg scrabbling against the ground to get a grip. Lavi and Kanda got the blunt of it, as Lavi was crushed against Negrynas's side and Kanda had rock digging into his back. The demon found the floor and pushed himself up, bringing the group out of the abyss. One of his talons scratched against the ground as he did, but none of them were hurt.

He took a step forward and hissed, side muscles convulsing in a spasm of pain. A few splatters of hot blood dropped to the ground, right past Kanda's head.

Ignoring the blood and the wound, he started moving forward with an awkward gait. The ground was vibrating, but they didn't seem to be in danger at that second. Negrynas moved quickly, his limp a mere inconvenience. A rugged edge was in front of them, but the ground continued past it below. Negrynas paused at the edge of it, looking down solemnly. Without looking back at the cargo he was carrying, he lowered his back leg carefully to the ground until a talon touched the ground. He loosened his grip and the young adults stepped, fell, or face planted out of his grip. Negrynas didn't look back.

Linali pushed Lavi, who had fallen, off her and Chaoji before climbing to her feet. She looked up at the belly of the demon above in awe. Hesitantly, she took a step toward the wounded leg and examined it carefully. She frowned, noting that the wound had been exacerbated by the falling and slamming it had taken. Linali reached out a hand, rubbing the skin beside it gently. The skin vibrated like a horse's does when it scratches an itch. Negrynas made no other acknowledgement, watching the scene below him. His neck was bent over the edge to stare firmly at whatever it was.

Kanda and Allen walked up beside him and followed his gaze. The Millennium was standing to their far left, sword out and glaring at someone. A small shockwave flew towards him, but he dodged aside. Cross, to their far right, fired twice more. Allen jerked forward, as if about to join the fight, but Negrynas gave him a warning growl. Kanda glared up at the demon, who finally turned his head to stare at them. It tilted its head downward, and Kanda could suddenly see the bookish man looking over his glasses at them with the expression of a teacher wordlessly reprimanding students.

Negrynas turned his head, and they again followed his line of sight to Cross's side. "Finally caught up to that bastard," Allen muttered under his breath, but Negrynas's gesture to draw their attention that way hadn't been meant for him. A small nudge to Kanda's back pointed this out.

"What?" Kanda snapped. "Thought you _didn't_ want us joining the fight." He started to lean forward. Negrynas hooked the end of a sharp talon through his coat's hood to keep him back. Kanda swatted it away, tearing the fabric as he did so, to glare at him. Negrynas motioned again in Cross's direction.

In his direction. Not at Cross.

Kanda frowned, stepping closer only to get a better view. A crumbled lump was behind Cross, covered in a dark material. It was small, but wasn't a part of the rubble that was crashing down.

Negrynas didn't stop him this time as Kanda jumped from the edge, landing on a spot below and sprinting in Cross's direction. The redheaded general ignored his coworker while he skirted around behind him. Kanda crouched slightly by the lump, brushing aside some of the material. "Baka."

She grunted slightly. "I'm okay…"

"Really? 'Cause you look like shit."

"No thanks to Negrynas… He should've run faster."

Kanda ignored that comment for now, unsure how to take it, but turned his head to glance at the demon for pointers. He was no help, having gone back to look at the fight between general and earl. Allen jumped away from Negrynas, lashing out at the Millennium as he did so. A sigh seemed to come from Negrynas of distant disapproval. Cross cussed out someone under his breath – the name sounded like "Cassandra" – before bolting forward to try to intercept his apprentice. He wasn't fast enough to prevent the teen and Millennium clashing.

Kanda went back to ignoring them and picked up his apprentice. She muttered irritably at not being able to walk from her injuries. Kanda jogged forward a few steps, planning on making his way back up the cliff. However much he'd like to go help the master and apprentice beat up the Millennium, this rock was about to collapse at any moment and he'd rather be with the one person who was going to survive it when the place fell apart.

He reached the top as the bottom layer started to give away. Linali stepped closer to him, hands out towards Baka to see if she was okay. Baka took one of her hands momentarily, giving it a squeeze to say she was. Then the girl let go to look back in the direction of the fight. The Millennium had disappeared, and Cross was talking to Allen. The teen was abruptly consumed in a column of light to the surprise of the others, vanishing as the light thinned out and dissipated. Cross calmly took one careful look around, and sprinted up towards where the rest of them were. Less than a minute later, he was expertly making it look like he wasn't panting.

"Negrynas. You've got a nasty reputation. What brings you here?" Cross demanded almost immediately.

The demon gave him a look, which was quite impressive since Negrynas didn't seem to have many facial expressions. It was more a combination of things, like his body posture and movements as well as his face. Whatever the case, it got the general idea across.

"Where'd the bean sprout go?" Kanda said shortly.

"Off to prevent this lump of rock from completely collapsing under our feet," Cross replied. "There's a place that's going to disintegrate a few minutes later than this place will, but I can't get you all there fast enough. Too many of you." He wasn't looking at Negrynas.

"Some of us can still go," Lavi pointed out.

"Then it's going to be you, Kanda, and Bunny-chan," Linali said firmly. "You're the Exorcists."

"I'm staying," Kanda declared, shooting the idea down immediately.

"But-"

"It's safer."

Everyone else paused to follow that line of logic.

"I doubt you gave him detailed instructions on how to save the Ark," Kanda said with a glare to Cross, "but he might not figure it out until the whole place crashes. Negrynas seems to have the best survival chance. I'm sticking with him."

"Even after you stabbed him?" Baka muttered irritably.

"Yes- How the hell did you know about that?" he demanded crossly, breaking off his own words.

"I'll explain later, but you're right." She looked over his arm at the others. "We're going to fall into the ocean below. Negrynas has had more practice at this, and even if he doesn't land correctly, he should absorb most of the blow."

The others looked at Negrynas for approval. He responded by lying down like a cat so they could climb onto his back. The ground started trembling harder beneath them, prompting an immediate reaction. On one side of the demon, Chaoji pushed Lavi up. The redhead then took Baka from Kanda's arms so Kanda could climb up, and Lavi and he then grabbed Chaoji's arm and hoisted him between them. On the other side, Cross very kindly helped Linali up and then realized he was stuck because of his gentlemanly ways because Linali was too short to reach him. Negrynas's head swung around, caught him in the stomach, and ungracefully raised him up into place with the others.

Lavi passed Baka back to Kanda on general principles. Kanda took her immediately, and she nestled back against his chest, closing her eyes. "Where's the rabbit?" he asked. She grunted in reply.

When that didn't seem to give any comfort, she muttered, "Isn't it obvious by now?" He glared at her closed eyes. She sighed. "Later…"

Negrynas climbed carefully to his feet and turned his head so he could see them all. He seemed to be trying to say something but couldn't get it across. Baka opened her eyes to look at him for a second before calling out to the rest, "Hold on tightly to him and each other! He's going to need all claws for this, unlike last time."

Lavi's head whipped around sharply. "Seriously, how do-?" He broke off as Negrynas jumped from the rock. The demon landed briefly on a crumbling piece that was falling from the sky. A few of the humans looked back to see the piece they had just been standing on begin to tumble. Then he was jumping again, falling from the sky with his legs splayed to decrease his fall, however slight, before crashing onto another rock. He repeated this again and again, moving quickly from rock to rock. As the rocks began turning as they fell farther and farther down, he had to modify his style of jumping.

The next jump landed him on the side of a rock instead. It turned, and he ended up vertical. His passengers clung on tightly, but he was already jumping again.

"Go up, you dumbass!" Baka shouted, trying to be head over all the chaos. "Cross, tell Tim to drop us into the egg room! There's too much mass for a safe landing!"

"You could've mentioned that earlier!" Cross snapped.

"We would've made it if the rocks weren't disappearing! I thought they just fell into the ocean!"

"No, they disappear when they've been…"

Cross broke off as they all dropped into a sudden blackness. Negrynas spread out his legs, landing in the position of an angry guard dog defending his territory. He got his balance before looking around.

"…downloaded…"

The group looked around the egg room warily. "Woah…" Lavi said.

Baka looked across the group to stare at Negrynas. The demon sensed the look and turned his head around to look at the smallest member of the party. "You're getting old."

Negrynas snorted.


	18. Chapter 17: The Penultimate Chapter!

a/n: Sorry about the long break, everyone! (And I'm probably only talking to one person, so sorry to our wonderful reader.) We've been really busy with our own stuff and a new story and completely forgot about getting the last two chapters up. As a thank-you to all of you who have kept with this for the duration of _Kanda's Apprentice_, I'm putting both chapters up at the same time. So I now present to you the penultimate chapter.

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><p>"How the hell are we supposed to get out of here, drunk?" Kanda snapped, addressing Cross. Baka was on his back, arms hooked around his neck and feet resting on his hips. He occasionally had to adjust her to make sure she didn't accidentally strangle him. The girl seemed content to just hang on.<p>

Cross glared at him. "I don't know. I didn't make this place. Ask my stupid apprentice. He knows more than I do."

"I don't know anything!"

"See? Nothing can be expected of me."

Kanda scoffed, looking around the ridiculously white town with a critical eye. "What, we just bang on every door and see if anyone's home?"

"I came through one to get here," Allen said, walking over to one of the houses. "See, it's just—"

Kanda facepalmed as the younger Exorcist abruptly dropped out of view into a small abyss. Lavi went after him as he grabbed his friend's wrist, followed shortly thereafter by Cross and Chaoji. Linali groaned, burying her face in her hands.

* * *

><p>As soon as they had climbed back up from their precarious position and examined the Innocence bracelets on Chaoji's arm, Lavi, Allen, and Chaoji left to go investigate more of the town. Cross wandered off, dragging Negrynas along with a simple glare. The akuma flicked his ears at him but followed, padding along like a wild dog that happened to be going the same way as a stranger. Kanda let the two groups go off on their expeditions, assuming that they'd return to share what information they had deduced.<p>

He set Baka down on a bench and sat down beside her. She yawned and leaned back against it, but he nudged her pointedly. "What's going on?"

"We fell from the sky, and then Allen recreated the Ark and dropped us off here."

"No shit. How do you know Negrynas?"

"Indentured servant."

"I somehow doubt that."

"It's true, and that's the sad thing." She glanced at him. "Look, I can explain it to you now, and then the others will make me explain it when they get back, and then the first Order members we meet are going to make me explain it, and then I'll have to explain it to the higher ups, and _then_—"

"I get it already!" She smirked and went silent, satisfied. He waited a few minutes before asking, "How'd you get hurt?"

"Hm?" She glanced down at her state. "Oh, this. I'm not sure you want to know."

"One of the Noah?"

"Ah, no. Maybe I should wait for the explanation to tell you—"

"Tell me now."

She sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Negrynas lives in the bunny. He didn't always, and he gave up a part of himself for that sanctuary. The part he gave up was his ability to heal. I took that on. Whenever he is injured, the injury goes to me and I have to heal it for both of us. It takes a longer time, but works just as effectively."

Kanda paused. "So I stabbed you."

"Yeah. Whoops."

An awkward silence passed.

"It wasn't like I did it on _purpose_."

"Yeah."

"Why were you in the building?"

"…Clarify?"

"When the bunny led me to you and I had to drag you out from under the table."

"It was partially planned, partially not. I did mean for you to take me back to the Order, but getting stuck under the table was an accident. My Innocence had other priorities, and I wasn't going to die or anything, so I just was stuck under there."

"For a few days."

"There are worse situations."

Kanda rolled his eyes. "And I'm sure you've been in plenty."

"I have, as a matter of fact."

"Why did you choose that town?"

"I knew you'd be there."

"What?"

"We kept an eye on the Order, and I knew you'd be there."

He frowned at her. She had the decency to look serious at this point in the conversation. "But why—?"

"You think the parents never hear the children's cries?" He closed his mouth, staring at her. She tilted her head slightly, gauging his reaction. Then she reached over and patted her hand on his chest, right over the tattoo. The lines across his neck and shoulder receded, coming back to the form they had originally been. Kanda hissed in a breath of surprise as he felt a change in his body, a modification. A bright light came from his sheath as Mugen glowed for a few seconds before going dark again. Kanda looked at Baka for an explanation. She smiled. "It won't harm you anymore. It's just a regular tattoo."

"I was using that, you know."

"You wouldn't have used it for long," she said with a tinge of sadness. He frowned slightly.

"How old are you?"

"I don't know," she sighed, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. "There was no point in keeping track, after a certain point. Life just got so melancholy at times while we waited… And waited… Tragically, it was a comfort when the war started. We had a purpose."

"War?"

"Between the Exorcists and the Millennium."

"You've been around before the Millennium?"

"The Millennium… It depends on how you count how long he's been around for. In his present state, only a hundred years. He had a different form, long ago. I did too. We knew each other. That's why we were both picked for our positions."

"Positions?"

"That is part of that long story I mentioned. Don't be impatient. We'll explain it all."

"I think I deserve to know," he snapped haughtily.

"And there's the audacity of the Order in a nutshell," she dryly replied. "Don't I deserve to tell my story in my own time?" He glared at her, but she still had her eyes closed and didn't see the look. "While we've got a bit of time, test out your Innocence."

"I think I know my sword after using it for this long."

"Not Mugen, your _Innocence_. It wasn't yours before."

He frowned. "What?"

"The Innocence was forced into you. You used it, but it wasn't actually yours. It is now. You should be able to use it a lot easier. Test it out. Try not to destroy our surroundings too badly, though."

Kanda stood up, pulling out Mugen. Baka opened her eyes and sat up, folding her legs beneath her to watch comfortably. He ran his fingers along the blade to light it up and activate the Innocence. There was an odd sensation when he did it this time, like he was supposed to do it. This time, it felt right. Before, it had been like living in someone else's house. It made much more sense to live in your own. He hadn't noticed the difference until it had been fixed.

He swung it a few times experimentally. He knew where the blade was by practice and instinct, but this time he felt it too. It made wielding the weapon considerably easier and more satisfying, and he smirked as he slashed it through the air at imaginary foes. Baka grinned, seeing him warm up to the new ability. It might not make him much of a better Exorcist, but it might give him some peace of mind.

* * *

><p>"Alright, we found a way down," Allen said. He eyed Kanda warily as he approached. His fellow Exorcist was leaning against a tree, looking rather daunting with his sword behind his back and the large demon in front of his feet. Negrynas tilted his head in Allen's direction as he approached, and then turned and looked down at something by his side. As Allen came closer, he could see the youngest Exorcist sleeping against the mighty akuma. She looked like a regular child with the family pet. He wondered momentarily what that said about their Black Order "family."<p>

"We'll go down to the surface first," Kanda said, leaving no room for argument. "If the others got into some sort of trouble, they're screwed."

"Don't have much faith in anyone, do you?" Allen stated blandly. "Yeah, whatever, you're right. Let's go. Cross is around here somewhere."

"He'll run for it as soon as he gets to the surface. Leave him here. The others coming?"

"All waiting for you, Bakanda."

Kanda grunted and pushed himself off the wall, stepping over Negrynas. The akuma nudged Baka to wake her up with his head. "No, she stays here. You're watching her."

Baka looked up at him, frowning. "What makes you think _you're_ in charge here?"

Kanda glared at her while Allen laughed. "The fact that you can't walk on your own and can do absolutely nothing. You're staying here."

"Well, _duh_, but what about Negrynas? He'll be more help down there than up here. If you want the fight over fast, take him down. We know there are a few Noah down there.

Allen paused. "Wait, we do?"

"Negrynas chased a few of the off so they wouldn't board the Ark. They were supposed to meet at a rendezvous with the Millennium. They were too far out and didn't make it."

Negrynas walked past them and started going in the direction Allen had come from. "Hey, you're not coming!" Kanda snapped. "If someone attacks the Ark—"

"They won't!" Baka said, standing up shakily. Allen flinched, stepping forward slightly to help her, but she already had her balance and was back to glaring at Kanda. Allen sighed silently at the stubbornness that the two possessed. "They'll go after the weaker pack – the injured ones down below without Negrynas or the others. They won't expect for you to have figured out the Ark quickly enough to get down there this fast."

"Who're the others?" Allen asked.

"I'll explain later."

"He's not coming," Kanda said firmly.

"There's not a whole lot of time for arguing about it—"

"He's not coming!"

"Why not!"

"He pisses me off!"

"Suck it up, he's going with us."

"Hell no!"

Negrynas turned back around and glared at him. He snarled soundlessly. Kanda glared back, before turning to Baka again. "I don't trust Cross."

She smirked. "Oh, I can deal with him. Don't worry about that."

"That sounded…evil," Allen muttered. "He had it coming." He glanced back in the direction he had come. "Kanda, let's go. She's right; we don't have time to argue."

* * *

><p>They came out in the small cave they had left from when they were taken to the Ark. The cave was empty, but it didn't show any signs of a struggle. Negrynas sauntered out of the empty hole, nose sniffing the air and ears twitching. The others followed behind, not having his keen senses to know where to go.<p>

"Are they okay?" Lavi asked. Linali had stayed behind to make sure Baka didn't "accidentally" kill Cross, otherwise she certainly would have asked that question. "Can you tell?"

Negrynas appeared to shrug slightly, but the movement became far more fluid than that as his shoulders continued moving up until they were level with the others'. The lapels of the long coat he had worn when Kanda had first met him on the train rippled in the breeze, and his slim figure stood out against the moon's light. The transformation had been surprisingly quick and silent. "They didn't bleed here," he replied. He stopped when he was out of the cave and turned. Without looking at them, he began climbing up the rock side. "They went this way. Miranda's nearby. I suspect she was too exhausted to go much farther."

Chaoji scowled and tugged on Lavi's and Allen's arms for a moment to stop them. Kanda paused. "Are we seriously going to trust him?" Chaoji demanded crossly. Kanda rolled his eyes, sighing in exasperation. Allen shot him a glare, telling him to stop picking on the rookie. Kanda ignored him—as he always did—as well as the look Chaoji sent his way.

"He seemed pretty willing to save us when we were falling to our deaths," Lavi pointed out in an undertone, gesturing to the sky above them. "That gives him _some_ points, doesn't it? Besides, Baka trusts him." He paused and Allen raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe not the best example there."

"I still don't think it's a good idea," he replied stoutly. "I don't see why we're trusting an akuma, and I don't trust anyone who would trust an akuma to that extent. We can look without his help."

"Unless someone's got better hearing, smell, and eyesight than him, I don't see a better option," Lavi pointed out. "I'm going with him. Besides, I don't think he'll let us get hurt. Baka's one of us, whether of you trust her or not and despite her irregularities, and Negrynas is subservient to her. Even if he doesn't like us, he fears her wrath."

"Good point…" Allen muttered.

Kanda glanced up the side of the bridge in time to see a black tail flick out of view. Chaoji started to say something but Kanda cut him off. "You'd rather have him running around without supervision?" Chaoji paused and Kanda leapt forward, climbing to the top of the bridge in a series of bounds no other human could accomplish. Allen wrapped a few tendrils of his cloak along the top and pulled himself up. Lavi offered his hammer to Chaoji and the two shot over the bridge as it extended.

Negrynas was already padding across the black expanse the Millennium had created, too impatient to wait for them. They caught up when he finally slowed down half a mile later, sitting on his haunches beside someone lying on the ground. He looked back at the others, tail twitching like that of a worried dog. Lavi was first to get to him, and immediately crouched down beside the limp form on the ground. "Miranda!"

"I'm okay," she said softly, opening her eyes. She jumped when she saw the large "dog" beside her. "What—?"

'We have an akuma on our side who won't explode," Kanda stated blandly.

Allen frowned. "Explode? What?"

Lavi shifted awkwardly. "We'll explain later." Allen frowned but settled down for the moment. "Can you move?"

"Yes, but I'm too exhausted to be of much help. You kids can go on for longer than we can…"

"We've been doing this for years, Miranda. No need to worry about it. Let's get you back to a safer spot, in case someone comes back."

"Lavi!" Allen said sharply. The redhead glanced over, noticing the tense and pointed posture of Negrynas. The akuma was looking off towards the trees, gaze hard. "Is someone coming?" he asked the akuma, stepping up to guard the dog-demon's flank. Lavi moved forward into a similar posture. Chaoji bit back a sound of protest at their movements.

Negrynas growled in response to Allen's question. He walked forward a few paces, growing larger and larger until he towered over them once again. His tail swished back and forth, and his stance widened to cover all of them. He stepped back, standing over the Exorcists to shield them from whatever was coming. "What is it?" Chaoji asked despite his disagreement with the akuma. Negrynas only responded by tensing further, a growl growing in his throat.

Then he sat down behind them, containing the group between his front legs. His ears twitched and his nose sniffed the air in confusion. He made a sound in the back of his throat and tilted his head, just as bewildered as the rest of them. Suddenly, his body stiffened in excitement and his head perked up. They could hear his tail swishing excitedly, making a small dust storm. The group exchanged surprised looks, getting together at the front of his legs to fend off an attack. His tail swiped forward in front of his paws, the leathery appendage warning them off from going beyond that point. They stepped up to the edge of it to look over at what was going on.

As far as they could see, nothing happened. Negrynas grew more and more energetic, but the source of his happiness had yet to be seen. All of a sudden, he settled down, tilting his head again as if listening to something. Kanda narrowed his eyes sharply, facts in his head clicking together. He jumped up to the surprise of the others, landing on one of Negrynas's legs and jumping up to his head. Negrynas turned slightly, surprised at the sudden contact, revealing someone else standing on his shoulder. Allen squinted, trying to make out who it was. From their distance, all he could see was a tall woman with curly brown hair. She folded her arms, glaring down at him.

"Ohreina," Kanda snapped, recognizing the woman from before.

"Damn, it's you." She glanced back at Negrynas. "Keep them out of harm's way. And you stay here too, you pathetic puppy." His tail wagged, although he gave a disappointed grunt. "The Noah are coming, and Akathartos is guiding the Exorcists back. Protect them when they get here."

Negrynas nodded his large head and she jumped off his shoulder. Kanda watched as she dived down, towards his back. Two bright lights split out from her back, gleaming on either side of her. He jumped, cursing under his breath, as Mugen lit up behind him suddenly. Below, he could see the other Exorcists having similar reactions to unexpected lights from their Innocence. He looked back at Ohreina, catching a final glimpse of her as the wings beat the ground and carried her far up into the sky. The wings grew larger and larger, sounding like a thunderclap every time they beat the air. She was gone a second later.

"Let me guess," Kanda said shortly, folding his arms. "The legends we keep hearing about you three are entirely false and made up from speculation." Negrynas nodded. Kanda didn't bother hiding his further irritation about having this crucial information kept from him. "And you've just been hanging out where, exactly, for the last few centuries?" Negrynas smirked at him and he glared back. "Don't give me that look."


	19. Chapter 19: The Finale!

a/n: And we're at the end! If you are looking for something else to read in the DGM 'verse, we have a handful of DGM AUs that might interest some of you! Also, you are encouraged to send in requests for future AUs! Sekai's busy dying with our foreign exchange student at the moment, so I'll leave you with this, the final chapter. Thanks for following, favoriting and reviewing everyone! ~Tsuki _(and Sekai!)_

* * *

><p>The sight was awe-inspiring in front of them. Several Noah tried to slip past them, but the pair of Innocence refused to let any pass. Debito almost made it at one point, only to be snagged by a wingtip from Ohreina and slammed back against the ground. A few of the Noah, ones the Exorcists had never met before, were slipping away, most likely to report what was going on to the Millennium. The remaining ones were covering their retreat, but looked ready to mimic their actions any moment now. Negrynas had laid down at some point, curling up around the Exorcists like a large dog. His head rested on his paws as he watched the fight between the two pieces of Innocence and the Noah. Kanda and Allen had tried to escape him to join the fight, but he moved his paws strategically to prevent that.<p>

The Innocence were doing fine on their own. Akathartos was somehow colder than Ohreina, not even bothering to dance lightly across the plain to defeat her enemies. She simply walked forward, slicing a long broadsword at anyone who came near her. Ohreina mostly kept to the air, shooting occasional bolts at anyone who seemed to be about to attack.

"Have you been allied with them since the beginning?" Lavi asked. Negrynas rumbled, contentedly thumping his tail against the ground once. "Bit of competition between the three of you?" Negrynas seemed to laugh and then pointed his nose at Akathartos. "Ah, she's in charge without dispute. Oldest?" Negrynas shook his head. "Second oldest?" He again gave a negative answer. "She's the youngest?" Negrynas nodded. "Then why's she in charge?"

Negrynas just shrugged. The last of the Noah sprinted off underneath his gaze. Ohreina landed on his shoulder and leaned against his scaly neck. She glanced down at the Exorcists. "Hey, Fourteenth," she called. "Mind opening up a path to the Order? It looks like some explanations are in order."

Allen nodded. Lavi frowned, looking at the place where the battle had taken place. "That…was the most embarrassing battle I've ever seen. Really. I'm not even sure what to say."

"You can always not say anything at all," Ohreina said. Akathartos sheathed her sword, staring off in the direction the Noah had run. "Open a path to the Order already!"

* * *

><p>They walked into the Order with all the power of three very annoyed, larger-than-life beings. Ohreina glared at anyone who got close to her. Negrynas had reverted back to the size of an Akita, and Baka was riding on his back. Akathartos seemed to have a problem with being in a group, electing to pace along the hallways in front of them and peer into every nook and cranny as if expecting someone to pop out of one. The Exorcists behind them had given up on pretending this was abnormal behavior.<p>

"Is that an akuma?" someone murmured, pointing at Negrynas. The demon launched forward to catch up with Akathartos, staying right in her shadow. Baka rolled her eyes at the gesture.

Akathartos led them to the infirmary, locating it easily to no one's surprise. Even before the Matron could do anything, she started shoving injured Exorcists towards beds and ordering others to help. Everyone stared, bewildered, unless they were directed otherwise by Akathartos. "Lavi, take that bed. Grab that bandage roll by the chair over there and use it to clamp that wound on your leg. Bookman, don't help. You need to lie down and rest." She enforced this by pushing him backwards with the palm of her hand before pointing at the four from the science division who had wandered in after the group. "Get water and food. Lots. Allen's stomach aside, the battles were strenuous and they're going to be hungry."

"We can get nutrients to them through an IV drip," the matron said as she put more bandages down on a table beside a stack of medicine.

"If they can't even swallow their own food in their state, they're useless and should die of starvation."

"No wonder they stayed with Kanda," Allen muttered to Lavi. The Bookman's apprentice nodded in agreement. They both stiffened as Akathartos turned to them.

"Allen, wrap up the injuries that bleed the most but be ready to eat. Your metabolism rate is so high, you may suffer unfortunate consequences if you don't get food in your stomach soon." He quickly took the bed beside Lavi. "Crowley, get into a bed! Try not to drink anyone's blood, if you please. Negrynas, help Miranda onto a bed before she passes out."

Louvelier watched as everyone rushed around, surprisingly obeying her orders. She stood in the center of the chaos, calm and collected as the rest of the room's occupants scurried about. The science team returned with food and water, going to Allen and Crowley first before they passed out. Chaoji took a seat before anyone could tell him to. He was a bit unnerved by Akathartos's authoritative stance.

"Kanda, get Baka into a bed. She is not to go anywhere," Akathartos said firmly. "Negrynas, keep eyes on the rest of them. Louvelier, help take care of wounds." He didn't move. "I'm not asking again. You have no place here if you don't help." She ignored him, moving on to other things, but the inspector helped the Matron cart medicine around. The science team didn't need to be told twice, doing anything and everything that could be done to help.

It was half an hour before everything calmed down. The science team was resting on the floor, exhausted, while the wounded Exorcists had been patched up and fed. Baka had tried to escape four times already, only to have Kanda grab hold of her before she made it halfway across the infirmary. Lavi noted to Allen that his assignment was keeping Kanda from leaving as well. Ohreina had ignored everyone, moving around the room and interacting with the pieces of Innocence instead. As soon as she neared one, it would begin to glow. She mended any dents or scratches on each piece simply by touching it and then would move on to the next one.

Despite Akathartos's orders, Lavi trotted across the infirmary with Allen in town and sat down on Baka's bed. "Hey! Okay, so the lasers are making sense now, but where did the lion come from?"

Baka eyed him. "I'm freakishly old. Of course I picked up a few tricks."

"And talking to lions was one of them?"

"Yes."

"And driving people crazy was one of those tricks, too?"

"You mean the ones Kanda and I ran across a while back? They were acting stupid. I put them in their places."

"How old are you?"

"I forget. Akathartos, how old am I?"

"Why would I know?" Baka shrugged by way of answer at Lavi, as if to say 'It's not important anyway.' The Exorcist generals entered the room as she did.

"How have you lived so long?"

"That's part of the main story."

"Speaking of which," Allen broke in, "why don't you just tell us that instead?"

"She'd have to repeat it two or three more times," Lavi explained. Baka nodded. "So I'm asking about stuff that I guessed isn't extremely important to the main stuff. For instance, why do you appear as a child when you're so old?"

She shrugged. "I liked this age and no one suspects me like this. Plus, I like the irony. And I can choose my age because I don't follow normal laws of mortality," she said, already seeing the question forming on Lavi's tongue. He grinned. "The power of the Triumviri sustains my life."

"Why the rabbit?" Allen asked.

"It amused me and looked like something a child would have. Besides, you should have seen your faces when the lasers shot out of its eyes," she added without a hint of amusement in her tone.

"The first time we saw that, I sensed an akuma," Allen said. "It was behind us. We assumed it was reporting to the Millennium, but it was Negrynas, wasn't it?" He glanced at the demon by the door. He twitched his tail and nodded at Allen in acknowledgement.

"Yeah. You'll understand why later."

"You destroyed the town on purpose to get rid of the akuma." Kanda had been silent the entire time, but he had some pressing questions of his own. "Ohreina."

Baka nodded. "Couldn't leave a job half done."

"That grey bastard destroyed the rabbit, but you said it was just a catalyst. The three of them don't actually need it, do they?"

She nodded again. "It's less conspicuous. They had left the rabbit and were out destroying akuma. That's why I dropped it. They remade it as soon as they all got back together. It wasn't any sort of problem, really."

A loud sound caught their attention. Louvelier hit the wall, hand over his bloodied nose. Ohreina smirked, not caring about the blood dripping off her knuckles. "Now _that_'s better," she said, stepping forward again.

"Ohreina," Akathartos said firmly.

Ohreina turned and snarled at her. "Don't you dare-"

"Take it outside," was all Akathartos said. Ohreina's smirk returned. Louvelier ducked another fist, backing towards the door. He was out a moment later, trying to avoid getting decked by the angry piece of Innocence.

The door closed after them, blocking off the sound of Ohreina's venting anger. Akathartos glanced over the silent infirmary. "I supposed you want an explanation now." Ohreina slipped back into the room, surprisingly soon but incredibly triumphant. That didn't seem like a good thing. "Honestly, we don't care who you share this story with. It is by no means confidential."

She stopped talking and they waited for her to continue.

"Akathartos, if you want, I can tell this tale," Ohreina said smugly. Negrynas rolled his eyes and Baka leaned back against the wall, clearly interested in where this was going to go. Akathartos's eye twitched but she didn't say anything.

And so, with five scientists, all four generals, Baka, the Triumviri, and ten Exorcists in the infirmary, Ohreina began telling a story that had not been told before.

"It started long ago, on the coasts of the Aegean Sea at the time of the ancient civilizations of Macdeonia, Greece, and Persia. It was a time of war, as usual. Baka, as you now know her, was a different young girl. She was from Sparta and was married to a man thirty years older than her when she was still a teenager. This was typical for the time. She drugged him before a battle and it was said that he was slain by the Sacred Band of Thebes. Personally, I think he just fell off his horse in battle and was pummeled to death. Anyway, an invasion—"

**Ohreina's Tale of Blood, Gore, and Death**

_The scent of blood and death was strong. Baka pushed her way through a street, trying to ignore the screams of the injured and dying. A sword flew by overhead, but she ducked in time and it sank into the weak flesh of a Spartan warrior. The enemy fell beneath the Spartan's dagger, not even having the time to cry out or beg for mercy. Baka started to back away, but the Spartan grabbed her arm. _

"_You owe me, bitch," he growled. _

"_I owe you nothing," she snapped. "Keep your goddamn hands to yourself before I cut them off."_

"_Oh?"_

_Baka whipped the dagger out of the fallen soldier next to her and stabbed it into the Spartan. He jerked back in surprise, blood flowing out of his wounds and all over her arms. As she pulled the knife out, he crumpled forward into her. She threw him off into the muck and blood at her feet. _

_There was an appointment she could not be late for. _

_Before she got there, her lover stepped out into the late evening light. He had been fighting on the northern wall, but they were pulling back now. His eyes lit up as he caught sight of her. He stepped forward angrily, grabbing her arms and pinning them to her sides. "You said you loved me!" he shouted. "Yet you murdered my brother!"_

"_He deserved it," she scoffed, pushing him away. "If I hadn't done it, someone else would have."_

"_He was my _brother_!"_

"_He was my _husband_!"_

"_You were supposed to obey him!"_

"_I never heard him tell me not to kill him or send him to his death."_

_He slapped her so hard she hit the ground. "You whore!"_

"_Speak for yourself! One who hasn't married and yet has slept with five women in the last three days alone! Hah, fine husband material there!"_

_He stepped forward, sword raised to smite her. She jumped forward, biting his arm. He howled in pain and dropped the blade. He swatter her aside. She grabbed the hilt and whipped the sword into the air, droplets of blood and mud falling from it. He moved closer, but she slashed the sword at him twice, slicing open his leg and midsection. _

"_Rot before you die," she spat, kicking him aside and stepping over him. _

"_I loved you once!"_

"_No, you just loved betraying your brother and screwing-"_

"Wait!" Lavi said, breaking into the story. Ohreina glared at him. Just about everyone else had their mouths hanging wide open. "How old was Baka when this happened?"

"Fifteen."

"She had sex when she was fifteen?"

"Fourteen," Baka corrected. "However, I'm curious about what's going on in this story, so please don't interrupt. I'd love to hear the rest, if you don't mind."

Linali frowned. "You don't remember what happened?"

"I do, but I have no clue what Ohreina's telling us," Baka said as her associate huffed in annoyance.

Nergrynas had shifted into a human at some point and looked furious. "If you aren't going to tell the story right, don't tell it at all!"

"Fine! You narrate it!"

Negrynas nodded stiffly. "Fine." He took a deep breath and started. "Allow me to first clarify something. The brother of her husband was the Millennium Earl before he became who he is now."

The gaping expressions returned.

"You slept with the Earl," Allen deadpanned, staring at Baka.

"His brother did it better," she said offhandedly.

"That's not the point…"

"This was back when he was completely human?" Bookman asked, recovering and asking for the record. There would be plenty more questions later about details, but there was no way all the people in this room were going to be able to sit still long enough for him to glean everything he wanted to know.

"Yes. This is how they became what they are now."

"Continue, please."

"Thank you." He cleared his throat. "Right, Baka's appointment."

**Negrynas's Tale of Tea and Crumpets**

_She paused once in a while, stopping to fight off any enemy she came across, saving a small group of Spartans at one point. Her war cries encouraged her men and scared the enemy, making them stumble and question their orders. Soldiers from both sides stepped aside to let her pass. It took half an hour through the rough travelling conditions for her to reach her destination. She entered, and nodded at the man sitting at the table in the corner. _

_She sat down across from him but didn't pay the man any heed, choosing instead to watch the events unfolding outside. The man watched the beautiful young lady in front of him, chin propped up with his hand, and completely ignoring the horror._

"_Don't you have somewhere to be?" she asked, somehow making it scornful despite the polite tone. _

"_Mmm." Another mournful scream emanated into the pub from outside, but the bright smile never left his face. He was, after all, Apollo. So long ago he had slept with her and given her the gift of foresight, but when she broke his heart, he cursed her so no one would ever believe her again. That was, after all, why the attack on the city had not been foreseen even though she had warned everyone of it. _

"_That's kind of getting creepy now, and you did scorn me and all that. And now you've come to sit in the middle of a battle with me." She had been told he was coming by a messenger, and figured it would be a good idea to speak with the god if she wished her city to still be standing in the morning. _

"_Yeah... Hey, I suppose I could do something about that." He didn't really look like he cared. _

"_Are you smitten with me?"_

"_Completely."_

"_Is that what you've told others before me, too?"_

"_Maybe. Memory fails me as I admire your beauty."_

"_My city falls as we speak. It's too late for prophecies now."_

"_For this city, yes. Not for the world." He looked at her. "I've got a present."_

"_You just went from saving the world to a present."_

"_No. Same thing." He fiddled with a something in his lap._

"_A box?"_

"_The size can change. It's what's in it that's important. I need you to take care of it for a while."_

"_How long?"_

_He smiled._

"_A long time."_

_He handed it to her reverently. "Take this. It'll stay with you wherever you go and hide itself. But, it won't protect you, Cassandra. Sorry."_

_She smiled. "I was kind of thinking you would do that."_

_"My favorite human."__He returned the grin, but wider._

_Then he walked outside and flew into the sky, leaving the box with her. Contained inside was a sleeping creature, a being that would one day awake as a coiling stream of energy, curling up in front of her before turning into a woman. They would talk and they would come to an agreement. It would be the first of many in the years to come. That was not to be known yet, though._

"OW!" Negrynas broke off as Akathartos grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him across the room. She threw him into Ohreina and the two fell to the floor in a heap.

"Baka, please finish the narration before they further confuse the Bookmen," she said calmly, going back to her place on the wall and ignoring her friends as they untangled themselves from each other and separated, sending glares and scowls at each other as they did so.

Baka shrugged. "Alright."

"You met a god," Lavi deadpanned.

"And I had sex with plenty of them, honey. Stop focusing on the little things."

"I'm still stuck on trying to figure out what the hell is going on," Allen said. "Okay, so Baka and the Earl had sex and hated each other because Baka killed his brother. Apollo gave her the original block of Innocence before it broke apart."

"And that block," Baka said, "was Ohreina."

All eyes turned to the woman on the floor. She glowered back.

"She is the essence of the Innocence. I guarded her until the Earl made his move. He had been chosen to guard the Dark Matter. It took him along time to learn the extent of his abilities and how best to use them. His first akuma was Negrynas. However, there was a problem. Negrynas still had free will. He decided he didn't like killing people and left the Earl and his people behind. Ohreina began to divide herself up around this time. Akathartos was formed when she split in half. The more they divided, the weaker the personality of the Innocence was. The core – not the essence, the heart – of the Innocence moved on into someone else.

"Akathartos and Ohreina had not divided themselves up much by this point. Ohreina went out on her own to learn the extent of what the Earl had learned to do. Akathartos chose me as her Accommodator and we came up with the idea of a catalyst for the Innocence so you mortals could use them more easily. Ohreina found Negrynas and chased him across the world until he ran across the two of us. An agreement was reached, and he began to help us instead of the Earl." She paused. "And that's about it, really."

"Why were you specifically chosen to protect the Innocence?" Linali asked.

"The Earl had already been chosen and I was the only one who had pissed him off."

"Why'd you attach yourself to Kanda?" Allen asked, jerking a thumb at the man behind him.

"He was less likely to pay close attention to anything strange that happened around us or care in the event he noticed," Baka said, "so it would be easier to hide. We were assessing the Order's strength. We had been working in the field for a long time but decided we should see first-hand what was going on."

"Should we even ask what you think of us?" Lavi asked.

"Foot soldiers are good. Command structure sucks."

"Excuse me?" Cloud asked coldly.

"Not you. You're foot soldiers, too. The level above you. The strictly non-combative ranks." Baka said. A few moments of silence passed. "Any more questions? Any at all?"

"Are you all crazy?" Lavi asked.

"My innocence is batshit insane," Baka cheerfully replied. "It's the akuma keeping me in a non-murderous state." Negrynas gave the room an optimistic thumbs up.

"You take any injuries they get," Kanda stated.

"Yeah. Makes it easier for them to fight. It's also a problem for me but if it means the fight is over faster and before anyone is killed, it's worth it." She looked around the room. "Anyone else? No? Nothing?" She glanced at the generals. "Cross, I believe there was a lecture you were going to give me."

"Yes." He got to his feet and she slid off the bed. The room slowly began talking again as the two walked out. Kanda waited a minute before following them. No one but the Matron noticed and she didn't dare stop him. The Triumviri were sitting on the floor, bickering about something. It seemed to be a normal thing for the three immortals, who acted more like children than centuries-old beings of power.

Kanda followed the sound of footsteps as Cross and Baka walked away from the infirmary. They ended up at a seemingly random portion of the Order in a storage room. Cross held the door open for Baka, but she took it from him and ushered him inside instead. He shrugged and walked in. Baka glanced down the doorway at Kanda with a smirk. He glowered at her and she smirked wider she let the door go when he was close enough to catch it and walk in after her.

Cross was leaning against a wall with his arms folded over his chest. "I figured you'd probably come after her," he noted. "You'd be too pissed at the deception to let it go."

"Piss off."

"Hope you weren't figuring him to be polite, too," Baka said with a grin. Kanda settled behind her where he could face and glare at Cross. "I'm guessing you already gave this talk to Negrynas while you two were alone on the Ark."

"Yes."

"Hold on," Baka said and glanced over her shoulder at Kanda. "Back story. Cross followed up Negrynas to try and get rid of him. I delayed him by spending all his money. So that was why he was always not paying his debts. He eventually caught up to us and figured things out, though."

"Does he have to be here?" Cross asked.

"Not your choice," Baka said, "so deal with it. Get started already."

"Whatever." His gaze shifted to Kanda briefly before going back to Baka. "It's your duty as the guardian of the Innocence to keep the pieces safe. While you were out running around, people have died – people you could have protected. The Order has done all sorts of things to try and make stronger Exorcists, when all they needed to do was find you. This war might have already been over if it weren't for your lack of necessity. The akuma and Noah have destroyed so many lives, and it's your fault. You should have made the Triumviri go into battle whether they wanted to go or not."

"I'd like to see anyone try that."

"You could have and you know it. You hide in a child's body because that's what you are. Useless, weak, coward. Afraid of your own power and glad to let someone else take charge. After a thousand years, and you still don't have faith in your own ability. _Weak_. Let the Triumviri go. Send them out into battle and destroy the Earl once and for all."

Baka was shaking her head. "You don't understand."

"I understand perfectly. You're just afraid that I'm right."

"No, Cross." The weariness in her voice stopped him from saying anything. "The Earl waited for so long to move for another reason. He wanted to wear down the Triumviri. And that's what he did. We are _old_. So old. Battle is like breathing to us, but elders stop breathing, don't they? We are not who we were. It's why the Earl does not often go into battle either. He cannot fight like he used to without risking his health."

"Then why did you bother coming back?" Cross snapped. "Hoping to confirm everything would be okay without your intervention?"

Baka sighed and stepped forward. "A mother does not fight her children's wars." She kept walking. Her hair grew longer and her paces lengthened as her height increased. The brown locks that had bounced with so much life turned grey and dull. Her body became bent and aged. Scars covered her skin from vicious fights. She looked incredibly old and worn and the toga wrapped around her body only accentuated her frail body. "But as a parent, I can guide you."

She smiled sadly at Cross before turning to look at Kanda. "We should go make sure no one destroys the infirmary."

"Too late for that," he pointed out. She shrugged and walked toward him. Cross blinked in surprise as Baka hugged Kanda, pressing her face into his shoulder. He hugged her back even as she shrunk and returned to the body of a young child. She pulled back and smiled at him. Kanda didn't return it, but he didn't glare either.

Baka walked around and climbed onto Kanda's back. He stood up and carried her back to the infirmary, their roles once more like teacher and apprentice.

Like parent and child.


End file.
